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REMINISCENCES
* *
* *• or ita
LAST SIXTY -FIVE YEARS,
* COMMENCING WITH THE BATTLE OF LEHNQTON.
SKETCHES OF HIS OWN LIFE AND TIMES.
•
A
Tf
BY HTSy THOMAS,
Formerly Editor of the Charleston (S. C.) City Gftsette, aadlaUfr
of the Cincinnati Dally Evening Part. (
IN TWO VOLUMES,
VOL. I.
HARTFORD.
PRINTED BY CASE, TIFFANY AtfD BURNHAM,
FOR THE AUTHOR.
1840.
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AUG n 1111
According to act of Congress, in the year 1840,
By E. 8. THOMAS,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
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ft.
*
*
.... . *»
Ibhovobout +h*
UNOTED 8TATE8.
gentlemen:
It is to your innumerable kind notices of such parts
of the following Work, and of their author, as have been
published in the Cincinnati Daily Evening Post, within
the last two years, that this work owes* it* existence in
its present extended form; and ingratitude for your good
feelings thus extended towards me, I dedicate thft Wojrk
to ycyi. With the single remark that ytfu will
" Speak of me ai I am, nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice ;"
I subscribe myself your obliged friend,
E. S. THOMAS.
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*
4
*
• • • .'
-* •*
. *
*
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f * PBEF;AGEv
In my youth I read a great deal, aad hid
read many works without ever having read a
preface, until I was going to read Montesquieu, ,
when, as luck would have it, I happened to
open at the preface, and my eye lit upon the
passage, where he quotes the exclamation of
Corregio] on viewing a painting, the production
of one of his great predecessors, " and I also
am a painter" From that time, I never read
a book without having first read the preface,
which, I at once discovered, was necessary to
a correct understanding of the author.
The following work consists solely of my
personal recollections, except in a ver^ few
instances, the sources of which are distinctly
pointed out, where they occur. The first remi-
niscence was of John Hancock, about four years
ago, the next was of Samuel Adams; finding,
by my exchange papers, that their circulation
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PREFACE.
was almost co-extensive with our country, I
was induced to proceed with them, and the
many calls made upon me, through the press,
to continue, has, within the last two years,
brought them to their, present st§*e. A large
portion of. the reminiscences have never been in
print before, and none of the sketches of my Life
Ind Times. The correctness of those that
have been published, has never yet, in a single
instance, to my knowledge, been called in ques-
tion, although it is scarcely possible but that
there must be errors, from the very nature of
the work.
The Appendix will be found to contain a
mass of miscellaneous articles which have been
thought worthy of preservation, by competent
judges, to whom they were committed for their
decision.
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REMINISCENCES
OF THE
LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS.
BATTLE OP LEXINGTON.
Wrftttt Apr* 90, lOI.
In turning over the pages of Grimshaw's History of
the United States, written for, and used in, our schools,
I was forcibly struck with the errors in point of fact,
and the total want of those particulars, which alone give
interest to events leading to such results as were produced
by the battles of Concord and Lexington, and Bunker's
HUL
I had not entered upon the threshold of existence, when
these battles were fought, but that event happened soon
after. My father was in both of them, as one of the
minute men of those days, — that is, one who had bound
himself to turn out, at a minute's notice, in defence of his
country. The sketch I am goinjf to give of the first of
these battles, I received from my parents, both of whodl
often gratified my childish inquiries, by a recital of the
events of that ever memorable day, in which they were
v
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8 REMINISCENCES OF THE
both participants — mjj mother, much against her incli-
nation, as I shall show.
The British, in possession of Boston, had learnt that a
quantity of public stores were deposited at Concord,
nineteen miles distant, and determined to send out a force
sufficient to destroy them. Another, and a much more
important object of the expedition was, to capture, if
possible, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were
known to be in that neighborhood, and upon whose heads
a price had been set
On the night of the 18th of April, 1775, the British
landed eight hundred men in Charlestown, who took up
their line of march through Menotomy (now called West
Cambridge) and Lexington, to Concord ; it was a calm
star-light night, and they moved with all possible still-
ness ; at West Cambridge, they passed my father's house,
and their tread awoke him ; he arose, stood at the win-
dow, and counted the platoons. As soon as they had
all passed, he seized his musket and started across the
country, every road of which was familiar to him; in
his progress, lie fell in with numbers on the same errand,
that was, to get ahead of the enemy, and alarm the coun-
try, in both of which they succeeded, so that when the
British arrived at Lexington, eleven miles from Boston,
about five o'clock in the morning, they found the militia
assembling; they had intelligence of the enemy's move-
ments some hours before, and had promptly assembled ;
But, the enemy not then making their appearance, were
dismissed, to assemble again at beat of drum. When the
British came within striking distance, major Pitcairn rode
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YBAKS. 9
forward and called out, M disperse, you damn'd rebels, dis-
perse;" and without waiting to see whether they would
or not, fired his pistol, which was the signal for a volley
from the advance, which killed eight ; the others dispers-
ed, and the British pursued their way to Concord, where
they arrived without interruption, and destroyed the
stores, but Hancock and Adams had made their escape.
They then commenced a retreat, to do which they had to
pass the north bridge: at the foot of it captain Davis had
drawn up his company, (the Concord Light Infantry) and
then and there the first volley was fired by the Americans,
in that cause which gave independence to America, and
freedom to a world. In the meantime the minute men were
pouring in from all quarters, and the British found them-
selves so hotly pressed, that had it not been for a reinforce-
ment of about a thousand men, with two field pieces, under
Lord Percy, whom Governor Gage had despatched to
their assistance, not a man of the detachment would have
got back to Boston. The reinforcement met the retreat-
ing column near Lexington, greatly diminished in num-
bers, and almost exhausted, having taken no refreshment
since they left Boston, from whence they were yet distant
eleven miles, and had to fight every inch of the way.
The plan then adopted by Lord Percy, was one of the
most savage warfare : his troops fell off from the front,
entered the houses of the Americans, plundered them of
whatever they could carry, set fire to the buildings, and
then joined the rear, thus giving an opportunity to their
whole force to plunder; but, so hot was the, pursuit, a
large portion of the fires were extinguished before they
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'♦
10 * REMINISCENCES OF THE
had done much damage. When they had passed " the
foot of the rocks," they entered the plain of West Cam|
bridge, seven miles from Charles River, |md quite a vil-
lage for about two miles ; at least \ found it 90, when a
school boy ten years after, and there was no appearance
• of any addition to it since the Revolution.
It is proper heje to remark that there were two taverns
ifc West Cambridge, tlje one kept by a Mr. Cooper, and the
resort of the Whigs ; the other kept by a Mr. Bradish, and
the resort of the Tories. There were three families on the
road within a fourth of a mile, by the name of Adams, a
name hateful to the British ; in one of these Mrs. Adams
was confined the night before ; the enemy entered the
house, took the bed on which she lay with her infant at
the breast, and carried them into the yard, and left them
there. A little boy, about four or five years old, had
taken shelter under his mother's bed — his foot projected
from beneath the drapery, a British soldier thrust his
bayonet through it, and for a moment pinned it to the
floor ; the boy did not utter even a cry : this fact I had
tbm his mother. They then plundered the house and
set it on fire, but the Americans entered in a few minutes,
extinguished the fire, and restored the mother and infant,
to their room and bed. Their next exploit was at the
Whig tavern, into which they fired more than a hundred
bullets ; the holes made by them were filled up, but the
marks are visible to this day. It was a singular fact that
three old men, of seventy years and upwards each, who
were tories, the battle coming on them so unexpectedly,
took shelter in this tavern, (Cooper's) where the British
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* LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. "tt
found them and pqfcthem to death. The name of one of
them was Wftiship, — I well remember his son. The
iieavy discharges ofciriueketry at this tavern, brought my
mother int<5 the street or road, who had learned nothing
certain of wft*t had been going on, from the time my
fath* had left her the previous evening. To her Utter
astonishmdit she saw the battle* raging at less thai\half
a mile distance; she instantly returned into th» hous^
secured a small bag of the ourreney so mtjeft waited at
this time, and a few small articles* then taking one child,
of two years old, in her arms, and having two older ones, '
hanging to her aprop, she sallied forth to go to a captain
Whitemorefs, about two miles distant, across the fields,
on the bank of Mystic river, (women and children had
already fled there to the number of a hundred of the
former, and two or three hundred of the latter.) She
had scarcely set foot in the road, when one cried for
bread ; she returned into the house, and cutting a loaf,
gave a piece to him that wanted it, and tying the remain-
der up in her apron, she was again in the road. In the
mean time, the battle had approached so near, she waft
within point blank shot of the retreating enemy, who let
go a whole volley at her, which did no other damage
than to pass two balls through her cap. The Americans
saw her perilous situation, and called out to her, " run,
good woman, run ;" she did so, and arrived safe at the
house of refuge. The enemy, in the mean time, sent out
a flanking party with the intention to cut off this resort
of the mother and child, — an object which they came
nigh accomplishing; for the Americans did not succeed
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12 REMINISCENCES OP THE
in turning their flank until they had approached the house
near enough to lodge bullets into it ; and a very large
elm tree, within twenty-five feet of The Jiouse, was spat-
tered with them, which I took great pleasure in cutting
out ten and twelve years after. After my mother's es-
cape, they entered the house, took eVery article of fcloth- ,
ing and bedding, except the beds themselves, 'fahich they
nipped open, split up the fdrniture, and then set fire to the
house ; but the building was saved. They also killed a
horse id the stable, and some hogs in a pen.
Near my father's dwelling, was Bradish's Tory tavern ;
when they arrived at that, Mrs. Bradish, who was in
delicate health, rose from her easy chair, to retire from
the front of the house ; she had not left it a minute, when
a bullet passed through the back of it ; it was the only
one fired at the house, and was probably done inadver-
tently. The British officers, who had been in the habit
of making trips to the country, particularly on Sundays,
knew every family, which was whig and which was tory,
for many miles round, and deah with them accordingly,
. when .they had the opportunity. It was not until dark
that they arrived in Charlestown, when the Americans
withdrew from the contest, and they (the British) en-
camped on Bunker's Hill. The next morning they en-
tered Boston. The loss on both sides has been differently
stated, and my memory does not serve me with certainty
on this subject; but a pamphlet which I remember to
have read, containing affidavits of many of the occurren-
ces of the day, it seems to me put down the loss of the
British at two hundred and forty-five, besides many
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEAKS. 13
wounded, and that if the Americans at about one hundred
and forty; but I am not certain, nor have I any authori-
ties at hantj, to refer to, on the subject
Thus terminated the first battle, in which every enor-
mity, that time permitted the perpetration of, marked the
cteduct of a licentious soldiery on ihe one part, while on
the other, our patriotic sires conducted with all that br&»
very, coolness and good conduct, which should eve*
distinguish the citizen soldier, fighting in defence of hii
rights.
A monument has been erected on the spot where the
first blood was spilt, on which is the following inscription:
c
Sacred to the Liberty and the Rights of Mankind ! ! !
The Freedom and Independence of America,
Sealed and defended with the blood of her sons.
This Monument is erected
By the Inhabitants of Lexington,
Under the patronage, and at the expense of
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
To the memory of their Fellow-Citizens, .
Ensign Robert Munroe, Messrs. Jonas Parker,
Samuel Hadley, Jonathan Harrington, jr.
Isaac Muzzy, Caleb Harrington, and John Brown,
Of Lexington, and Asahei Porter of Woburn,
' Who fell on this field, the first victims to the
Sword of British Tyranny and Oppression,
On the morning of the ever memorable
Nineteenth of April, An. Dom. 1775.
The Die was Cast!!!
The Blood of these Martyrs
* In the cause of God and their Country,
Was the Cement of the Union of these States, then
* Colonies, and gave the spring to the Spirit, Firmness
And Resolution of their Fellow-Citizens.
They rose as one man to revenge their brethren's
Blood, and at the point of the sword to assist a*d
Defend their native Rights.
They nobly dared to be free ! !
The contest was long, bloody and affecting;
Righteous Heaven approved the solemn appeal;
Victory crowned their arms j
And the Peace, Liberty, and Independence, of the Unitetf
States of America, was their glorious Reward.
Built in the year 1799. ^)
VOL. L * 9
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M * REMINISCENCES OF THE
>. * .1- *
, BQSTON FROM 1784 TO 1795.
* % WrittefcJune 10, 18381
* My first visit to Boston wa$ in 1784. There was no
> bWge then, ^pd at very high spring tides, the neck, by
•* which tht peninsula on which the town is built is con-
* nected *ith the main land, was sometimes overflowed,
qpking tfce town an island. The north end of the town
was$nje<e4 by a ferry from Charlestown. At this pe-
riod vftvy flttle improvement had been made in it since the
Revolution, and there was much talk about the possibility
of building a bridge to Charlestown, many believing it
impossible, from the great depth of water in the channel
of Charles river; others insisted, that if built, the ice
would destroy it ; and others, that it would be greatly
injurious to the navigation ; but by far the greater num-
ber disbelieved in the possibility of building one. There
was then living at Mystic, (now Medford) about three
miles from Boston, an ingenious shipwright by the name
* of Cox ;* he insisted upon the practicability of building
the bridge ; was anxious to undertake it, and willing to
* The complete success of Mr. Cox, in the construction of this bridge,
occasioned his being sent for to go to Ireland, to build one over the Boyne,
at Londonderry. He took his Yankee workmen with him ; built the
bridge to the satisfaction of his employers, and opened it on the fourth
of July, 1788, when a battle took place between his workmen and the
Irish, which, but for the prompt interference of the magistracy, aided by
the military, would have been a very serious business. He was after-
wards applied to by the corporation of London to take down the monu-
ment which was built to commemorate the great fire of 1666, and which
was supposed to threaten destruction by a fall, as it leaned a little j but
they would not give him his price, and he declined the undertaking. I
lost sight of him after this entirely.
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v *
1* *
LAST filXiyr-FlVB YEARS. \fr
stake his all upon the result. He succeeded m bringing *
the enterprising and influential tohisyiews; % charter,
wasobtated, and*he bridge built, and was opened on
the 17th of June, 1786, tke anniversary of the battle tf
Bunker's Hill, when Boston poured forthjier thousjngb
in grand procession over it to celebrate tfee #vent I
have been thus particular upon this subject, Jbfcc^use it *
was the building of this bridge thajt first%£V$ a* impetus
to improvement in Boston. It was the longp&t|rhigein
the world, and, with the exception of the Jbuflhents,
built entirely of wood: it yielded a profit of from thirty
to forty per cent, per annum, until the West Boston
bridge was built in 1793. This far surpassed in length,
and beauty of architecture, the other; add to which, it
was connected with a causeway, on the Cambridge side,
about the same length as the bridge — the two forming
a beautiful promenade of about two miles in length,
splendidly illuminated every evening with a profusion of
lamps. A little incident occurred when the two ends of
this bridge were being brought to a close in the middle,
which I have good reason to remember. There were
present the master builder and a number of persons in-
terested in the undertaking, waiting for the connecting
plank to be laid down, that they might first cross the
bridge ; it was just at the close of day ; I, with a number
of others, was looking on ; the first connecting plank was
laid, and before the workmen were aware of my inten-
tion, I had crossed : a hot pursuit commenced, with the
intention of catching and punishing me for my temerity ;
but I was not to be caught, and was amply punished in
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1
> 9
* : •
16 KEMIIf ISCEItCBS Of THB
! ■ * * *
being compelled to walk round through Cambridge and
Charlestown, mL pass into Boston ovei\Charlestown
bridge, a distance of six, or seren milbs. •
» The prominent political mea of Boston, at the period
llhdpd to, were John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Robert
Treat Paine* James Sullivan, Oliver Wendal, Charles
* Jarvis, Btnjamin Austin and Benjamin Russel, editor of
the Centtael, who, backed by the Essex junto, * with his
pre&s, sWayed the political destinies of Massachusetts
and through her, New England, a great portion of the
time for nearly half a century. Hancock, Adams, Sul-
livan, Jarvis, and Austin, were of the Republican party.
The most conspicuous among her commercial men, who
had also great political influence, were Thomas Russel,
Joseph Barrel, David Sears, Johp Coffin Jones, John
Codman, Frazer & Son, Nathaniel Fellows, Joseph
Parsons, Frederic W. Geyer, Jonathan Harris, S. & S.
Salisbury,' and Stephen Higginson, the latter a man of
* There is a hiatus in the political history of New England, which
no man, that I know of, can fill up, but the venerable ex-editor of the
Boston Centinel, the Hon. Benjamin Russel ; it is the want of a history
of the "Essex Junto," The vast influence exercised by the few indi-
viduals composing that junto, aided by Mr. Russel and his press, was
not confined to New England even, but was felt through all the ramifi-
cations of the federal party, from Maine to Georgia. They were con-
trolled by hands and heads unseen. If Mr. Russel could be induced to
undertake such a task, a blank in our political history would be filled
up, which never can be done without him — and an essential service
rendered to the country. I doubt if the history of parties affords a
parallel to this — a party who once possessed themselves of the whole
power of the country, under the administration of the elder Adams, yet
never knew the springs by which they were moved.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. £ ' 17*
talcnt^nd a distinguished political writer f^he wrote
"Laco? against the administration of Hancock, by which .
he became very obnoxious to the Republican party.
Mr. Higginson did business upon long wharf, and passed
down State street on his way to his counting houdt.
The truckmen who stood in State street, took great p&rf t
to teach a parrot (that hung iff a cage at Jhe corner of
Merchants' Row) to know " Laco," and to <jnrse him, *
and so completely successful were tlfey, that " pretty
poll" no sooner saw Mr. Higginsoa approach, than she
began to " Hurra for Hancock ; damn Laco* and con-
tinued to do so while he continued in sight. These
merchants carried on a very extensive commerce with
Russia and Sweden, from the former of which they im-
ported immense quantities of iron, hemp, canvass, and
sheetings ; from the latter, iron only. There was also
an extensive commerce with France, Spain, and Portu-
gal, carried on through the ports of Bordeaux, Lisbon,
and Barcelona. The trade with Great Britain at the
time here spoken of, was very limited ; there were but
five or six houses engaged in importing her manufac-
tures : at the head of them was Frazer & Son. The
trade with China commenced about this time, not in
specie, but in seal skins taken on the northwest coast of
America, carried to Canton and exchanged for teas,
silks, and nankeens. This business for many years, was
immensely lucrative, and large fortunes were made by
it. Instances occurred where vessels that took out
nothing but their provisions and some trifling articles to
trade with the natives, brought back return cargoes that
m
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r
18 REMINISCENCES OF THE
paid nearly a hundred thousand dollars duties* The
trade to France, Spain, and Portugal, consisted princi-
pally in the expbrt offish, and the import of their wines,
brandies, and fruit, with some silks from the two former.
There were a few, and but a few, elegant mansions in
Boston at this time, and they were all built before the
Revolution.* Among the first modern improvements
was that of Jonathan Harris, near Fort Hill, which was
said to have cost nearly two hundred thousand dollars ;
this was followed by numerous others, many of which
far surpassed that in expense and elegance until Boston,
the last time I saw it, in 1816, could boast more splen-
did private dwellings than any city, (of four times its then
population,) I ever saw even in Europe.
In 1792, there was but one four story building in Bos-
ton, and that was on Union street, not far from Wing's
Lane. In 1816 there were a number of ranges of four
and Jive stories high. There was not, if my memory
serves, a solitary brick warehouse on any wharf in the
town. Long wharf stretched out into the harbor with
its seventy-four frame stores that did not appear to have
been painted since the Revolution. Then there was
Minot's T, projecting from the back of Long wharf,
Sears' wharf, and, at the north end, Hancock's wharf,
with others of minor importance.
In 1792 or '3, the first vessels of war, carrying the
tri-color of the French Republic, arrived at Boston.
They were the Concorde, of 44 guns, Capt. Van Dogan,
and the Marseilles, of 20 guns, Capt . Van Do-
gan was afterwards blown up in the Ville de Paris, of
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4
LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. ' 1ft
120 guns, at the battle of the Nile. Their arrival crea-
ted a great excitement, and the opposite political parties
for a while forgot their differences to unite in doing
honor to their country's allies. French victories follow-
ed each other in such rapid succession on the contin&rt,
that the enthusiasm in their behalf became extreme, &nd
the Bostonians determined to celebrate them in the most
splendid manner. This celebration took place in mid-
winter, when the cold was intense. An ox was roasted
whole in State street, and then placed upon a car drawn
by thirteen pair of white horses, preceded and followed
by music, with an immense multitude carrying banners
of various descriptions, and all wearing the tri-colored
cockade, paraded through the streets, marshalled by Col.
Waters. They then returned to State street, and the
hard frozen roast beef was cut up with axes and distri-
buted among the multitude. In the evening the State
House, the French Consul's office, aqjl a few other build-
ings were splendidly illuminated. The old State House
made a most beautiful appearance. My old friend Rus-
sel, of the Centinel, tuned his harp to the Marseilles
Hymn at this time, and after firing a broadside at John
Bull one day, he wound up with the following distich :
14 "Tis the boast of a Briton to bluster and threaten,
But hangs his tail like a puppy when handsomely beaten."
His harp was new strung in 1798, to a very different
tune, and Britons and black cockades were all the fash-
iofij But to proceed : the principal ship yard then was
at the foot of Milk street, intersecting with Kilby street,
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20 REMINISCENCES OF THE
and there Nathaniel Fellows had built a ship which lie
called the Gennett, in compliment to the French minis-
ter. She was launched ready rigged from the stocks.
She proved unfortunate. He then built the Robespiere ;
that prince of blood hounds being then at the height of
his power. She was loaded and sent to Bordeaux, but
did not arrive there until her namesake had rendered up
his forfeit life upon the scaffold, when her figure head,
which was the statue of the tyrant, was dealt with a la
Jackson, on the Constitution. But nothing could damp
the ardor of Mr. Fellows in the cause of the new Repub-
lic ; he built another and called her the " Ca Ira? it will
go on.
Bullfinch's pasture, at West Bostpn, was a large, open
space of ground in 1792, west of which, to the water,
there extended a range of hills unoccupied by any building
but the "pest house ;" a great part of it, if not the whole,
has since been bijjlt up with splendid mansions ; while
at the north end, particularly from the entrance to north
square down to where the Constitution frigate was built,
very little improvement had been made, in 1816. There
were the same old fashioned frame houses, with the upper
story projecting over the lower one, that had occupied
the ground for more than a century, and gave an appear-
ance of antiquity equal to the oldest towns in Europe.
Most of the old streets in Boston are, as Freneau says of
ancient New York, " modled on the horns of a ram f
crooked and narrow, giving the town a very odd appear-
ance to those accustomed to modern New York, Phila-
delphia, Baltimore or Cincinnati. In 1790, her popula-
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LAST 8IWTT-FIVB YEARS. 31
tion was but 17 or 18 thousand, but then, as now, theft,
with the population of the towns around her, within a
distance of a dozen miles, constituted 'the most densely
populated district in the United States, of its size. At
the time we speak of, with the exception of the old State
House, and the churches, her public buildings were few
and ordinary. There were few manufacturers in those
days except those connected with ship building, which
was carried on extensively. Hats also were made in
quantities by Boardman at the north end, and Balch on
Cornhill. Very few other articles were made in larger
quantities than were wanted for home consumption.
Literature and the fine arts had already " a local habi-
tation and a name" among the Bostonians. Her clergy
were remarkable for their talents, piety, and devout and
holy life, practising what they preached. Among the
Presbyterians were Belknap, the historian and biogra-
pher ; Elliot, a man of science and literature ; Thatcher,
a splendid orator ; and Clarke, the profound scholar and
most amiable of men. Among the Episcopal clergy,
were Parker, (afterwards Bishop,) Lathrop, and soon
afterwards Gardner, (son of the old Sachem from the
East, as his father was called;) he was a man of great
talent, but more of a politician than a religionist. He
wrote a poem called " The Jacobiniad? which was very
severe upon the Republican party and its leaders. I
never saw it but once, and that was nearly forty-five
years ago, but I recollect that, in alluding to Dr. Charles
Jarvis, who was a most splendid orator, and file leader
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22 REMIN*SCBNCE# O? THB
df the Republicanjparty, (with Benjamin Austin,) he had
the following couplet :
"Behold the demagogue, from whose smooth tongue
Deception flows, as rivtfets glide along."
Of the Baptist church, there were ^tollman and Baldwin,
the former a man nf vast power and eloquence, such^s ^
I never heard surpassed in the pulpit; he was, indeed,
a most splendid orator. The next, and last that I shall
notice, were the Universalists ; at the head of whom
was the great founder of that sect in the United States,
John Murray ; .he was a host ; cool, deliberate, and pow-
erful. He had for an assistant a Mr. Richards, the best
poet America ever produced ; he wrote the 9t Visions
of Glory? extracts from which were frequently publish-
ed in Thomas & Andrews' Massachusetts Magazine in
1789 and '90. He also wrote and compiled a volume
of hymns for the Universalist church, and a life of Com-
modore John Manley, of the revolutionary service, for
the publishing of which proposals were issued, and that
was the last I heard of it ; and wrote and delivered a
poem on the Independence of America, on the 4th of
July, 1794, which I heard, and recollect the following
lines at its commencement :
" The daring muse, with retrospective eye,
Throws back her glance to that auspicious day,
When millions sworn, to conquer or to die,
Roused, as a lion, panting for the prey,
And rushing headlong to the fields of war,
Rode, vengeful rode, on slaughter's gore-besprinkled car!
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LAST SIX1?Y-TIVB. TEARS.
»
Why burnt thus^erce, within the phrensied soul,
Undying freedom's life enkindled flame?
Who led the lightning, bade the %mder roll?
What God like p*?er ; what deathless son of fame,
Rent the dark veil of ancient da^s in twain,
And gave to Independence Liberty's loosed reign T
Say, who can count tfce sum of untold wrong,
That fired to rage this last discovered world 1
To scenes of valor, drove the impassioned throng,
And the hot bolt of triscene vengeance hurled,
At the proud puppets of a venal throne,
Whom Eastern lust, of haughtiest rule, had blushed to own."
23
"Are there no Hampdens', Pirns', who dare to rise?
No Marvel's who abhor the Danean shower ?
Yes ! Roman patriots crowd these western skies,
Who scorn the scorpion lash of Nimrod's power!"
This is all that I recollect in order, but the poem con-
tained the names of all the signers of the Declaration of
Independence, beginning with New Hampshire, and the
leading traits in their characters.
There was a small society of Methodists, and also of
Roman Catholics ; the latter occupied a small chapel on
School street, and were under the spiritual direction of
the Rev. Mr. Thayer.
The bench and bar were powerful in those days : —
on the former, were Dana, himself a host ; Paine ; Sum-
ner, afterwards Governor ; Sullivan, afterwards Gover-
nor, and Sewell. At the bar was the " giant Parsons ;"
not from his size, reader, although, he was a large man,
but from his mighty mind ! There were G. R. Minot,
u the American Sallust," who wrote the history of Shay's
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34 bbm\niscengb8 pw Vhb
•
•
Rebellion ; Samuel Dexter, one of the most profound
reasoners that ever stood up ip*t court of justice ; Fisher
Ames, whose speech in Congress, upon Jay's treaty, was
never equalled, except by Sheridan on the trial of War-
ren Hastings ; Rufus Gray Emory ; Harrison G. Otis,
who was both a graceful and eloquent speaker; and
occasionally, Laban Wheaton, of Norton, who, to jn
ordinary face, joined a great mind and a good heart ;
with numbers of others of less note*
Of the medical profession those most conspicuous were
Warren, Dexter, Lloyd, Rand, Danforth, and from '95,
Thomas ; the two former professors in the Cambridge
University. I could relate a number of anecdotes of
Danforth, but will only give one. In the Revolution he
leaned to the British side, and the " regulators'* consulted
together about dressing the doctor in a suit of home-
spun, vulgularly called tar and feathers ; but it was over-
ruled, and the doctor, who was a man of great skill in
his profession, was suffered to enjoy his political opinions
unmolested. He was made acquainted with the facts,
and knew to whose kind intentions he came nigh being
indebted for such a favor. Long after the war was
over, this friend of his was taken very ill, and sent for
him ; he went and attended him with the utmost assidu-
ity until he recovered. A few days after, the doctor
met him " on change," when he presented his hand to
him; the doctor spurned him, saying, "do you think,
you scoundrel, because I attended you professionally,
that I will suffer you to offer me any familiarity 1* — and
turned upon his heel and left him. He would not sufier
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LAST StlTY-FIVE TEARS. 25
r * * - .
*
any of his patients to trifle with him? not even a lady.
When sent for he attencML promptly, prescribed as the
case required, and that prescription mutt be strictly fol-
lowed, or not send for him again.
Boston had few literary publications in those days, of
which I speak. There were Edes* Boston Gazette, the
oldest paper in New England, once or twice a week, I
cannot say which. The Independent Chronicle, by
Adams & Nurse, Mondays and Thursdays; and the
Centinel, by Benjamin Russel, Wednesdays and Satur-
days. The Massachusetts Magazine, monthly, was com-
menced in 1789, by Thomas & Andrews, and sustained
a good reputation; in '93 or '94 Belknap & Young tried
"the American Apollo,'' but it did not succeed ; in 1793
or 4, Young & Mins established the Palladium, on Tues-
days and Fridays, and soon after, John Russel, brother
of Benjamin, established the Boston Gazette, on Mon-
days and Thursdays. About this time Paine got up the
Federal Orrery, but I think it did not last long. Mrs.
Murray and Mrs. Morton shone in the periodical litera-
ture of the day at this latter period, and Paine, then
Thomas, afterwards Robert Treat, was without a rival
in furnishing Odes and Songs for all occasions. James
Allen was a fine poet I never saw but one of his pro-
ductions, the subject of which was our separation from
the mother country. It abounded with the fire of the
flint, and at the same time breathed the most conciliatory
spirit ; as is strikingly exemplified in the following line :
" Say that you have wronged us and our mother life."
VOL. I. 3
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26
*
•
i *
r
REMINISCENCES
OF THE
Speaking
of the
supplies*
Britain received from
US
he
says —
•
11 E'en the tall mast, that bears your flag on high,
Grow in our soil, and ripened in our sky."
He was an eccentric genius and quite in the vale of
years when I first saw him. His works are well worth
preserving.
Free schools were established in Boston about the
year 1620, and became the fountain, in after years, which
furnished the streams of education to every hamlet in
New England. Besides a number of English, there was
a Latin free school, where youth were fitted for the
University ; I well remember master Hunt, without
having the same good reason that hundreds of others
had.
After the massacre of the 5th of March, 1770, the
Bostonians turned their attention to the organization of
volunteer companies, and in 1792 there were the Gover-
nor's Life Guard, (horsemen,) the Independent Cadets,
under Col. Bradford, in their splendid white uniforms
with red facings ; the Independent Fusiliers, under Capt
Laughton, in rich scarlet uniform ; also Capt. Wallach's
Prussian Blues ; but the pride of Boston, in the military
way, wag " The Ancient and Honorable Artillery." I
well remember that upon their colors and drums were
conspicuously displayed, " Incorporated 1638." The
first Monday in this month (June,) was their two hun-
dredth anniversary. This corps form a military school,
being kept perfect in their discipline, and the officers at
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 27
each returning anniversary having to return to the ranks,
and give place to others*, elected in their stead. The
anniversary election of this company used to be the
favorite holiday. The scene was a very imposing one
on parade, when the officers elect marched put of the
ranks, in front of the line, and were received by those
whose term had expired, who exchanged with them their
badges of office, and receiving from them their muskets,
returned into the ranks from which a year before, they
had been in like manner drawn.
The first Boston Directory was published by John
Norman, in 1789, and had the following title page :
" The Boston Directory. Containing, A List of Merchants, Me-
chanics, Traders, and others, of the Town of Boston ; in order to
enable Strangers to find the Residence of any Person. To which is
added, Publick Offices, where, and by whom kept. Barristers and At-
torneys at Law, and where residing. Physicians, Surgeons, and their
places of Abode. President, Directors, days and hours of Business at
the Bank. Names and places of abode of ail the Engine-men. Illustra-
ted with a PLAN of the Town of Boston. Boston ; Printed and sold
by John Norman, at Oliver's Dock, 1789."
What Boston was at that time, may be inferred from
the fact that the whole number of names was under
fifteen hundred, and the mode of recording them may be
judged of by the following specimen.
" Pope John, school-master and surgeon, particularly a curer of can-
cers and malignant ulcers, &c. Vincent's lane." *
" Poterie (Claude de la) Roman Catholic priest, vice-prefect, and
missionary apostolic, rector of the church in South Latin School street,
dedicated to God under the title of the Holy cross, Oliver's lane."
' * I well knew this worthy man and useful citizen.
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88 REMINISCENCES OF THE
Among the very few survivofs of those recorded in
the Directory, I notice the names of Harrison Gray Otis
mid George R. Minot, whose valuable lives are still
spared to their fellow citizens.
In 1792 a company of comedians arrived from Lon-
aon, under the management of Mr. Powell, (a better
company I have not Seen since,) and commenced their
theatrical season in a stable which was fitted up for the
purpose. To evade the statute against theatrical per-
formances they called the plays "moral Lectures?
but Hancock was Governor, and was not disposed to
suffer such barefaced evasions of the law. They were
playing the " moral lecture** of Richard the Third, one
evening, and had proceeded as far as "Bosworth field,*
when the sheriff came unceremoniously upon the stage,
and made prisoner of the hump-backed tyrant. Great
uproar followed, and the portrait of Hancock that hung in
jfront of the stage box was taken down and trodden under
foot. The next night every man went armed with a
bludgeon, but there was no more interference, and the
next season a splendid theatre was built, a large majori-
ty of the town being in favor of it.
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LAST SI^TY-FIVK TEARS. 29
CHARLESTON, S. C. IN 1795.
Written M»y 19, 1888.
Reader, did you ever tfike a voyage to sea? If you
have, you felt sensations then such as you never felt
before, nor never can feel again. When for the first
time we behold f
"One wide water all around us,
All above us one blue sky,"
the mind looks abroad upon the boundless prospect, lost
in wonder and astonishment, and feels a reverence for
THE AUTHOR it never felt before.
Distances have become so shortened by the improve-
ments in ship building and navigation, but above all, by
the application of steam, that voyages are performed in
one fourth of the time they were forty or fifty years ago ;
at that time, and for a number of years after, a man, not
a seaman, who had made a voyage to Europe, was
pointed at in the streets as a curiosity ; with some such
a remark as this — " there goes a man who has been to
London." And even if he had only been from Boston
to Charleston, S. C, it was the same thing, in a less
degree. Every thing we meet with in a first voyage,
is taken as a mere matter of course, although we might
" follow the sea" all our life without meeting with the
like again. On the 30th of May, 1795, I commenced
my first voyage — leaving Boston and bound to Charles-
ton ; in the evening, having just passed Nantucket Shoals,
I was setting on the companion way, talking with an old
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80 REMINISCENCE* OF THE
weather-beaten seaman, whose head had been bleached
in the storms of more than fifty winters, when the old
tar, after a quick survey of the clouds that were gather-
ing, fixed his eye for a moment upon one, apparently a
little larger than a pocket handkerchief, and said to me,
a I don't like the appearance of yon little white cloud."
u Why V* I asked. " It will prove a white squall, I am
afraid," was his reply. The words were scarcely utter-
ed ere the vessel began to careen. Captain Oaks sprung
upon deck ; I started for the cabin and landed upon
the after locker, as the vessel went over upon her beam
ends ; she soon righted again, and I, with some slight
bruises, turned into my berth, taking it for granted that
a vessel being thrown upon her beam ends, was an every
day occurrence ; but I have since passed between the
East and the South a dozen times, and crossed the Atlan-
tic as many more, without being thrown upon beam
ends,* or seeing but one white squall. I was the only
passenger, and passed my time reading the "Life of
Franklin," and conversing with the patriot veteran who
commanded the vessel, Jonathan Oaks ; he commanded
a sloop of war in the Revolution, and abounded in infor-
mation of the events of that period ; he was a most ex-
cellent man, and treated me with the utmost kindness.
Nothing further occurred, on the passage, worthy of
notice.
On the 10th of June, we arrived at Charleston ; the
appearance of which was so totally different from Bos-
ton, that I could scarcely realize the idea, that it was a
part of the American Union, and under the same govern-
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LAST SI£TY-FIVE TEARS. 31
ment. The city, as you approach it, with its nunierous
wharves crowded with shipping, (bearing the flags of all
nations) and covered with extensive blocks of well built
ware-houses, with the lofty and splendid steeple of St
Michael's, and the then less lofty one of St, Philip's,
rising in the back ground, with the dead level of the city,
and the surrounding country, far beyond where the eye
can reach, presents to the view of the New Englander,
or the European, a spectacle new and interesting, so
totally unlike their father land, that their curiosity cannot
fail to be excited by it.
Gennet, the first minister from the French Republic
to the United States, landed in Charleston, where he
made a liberal distribution of commissions for privateers,
which were not suffered to remain useless, as might be
distinctly seen, by the number of Dutch and other prize
ships that were then laying at the wharves. Of the nu-
merous vessels that crowded this, then great commercial
mart, scarcely one in five bore the "stars and stripes."
The flags of Hamburg, Bremen, Altona and Lubeck,
were the most numerous ; while the British, French,
Dqtch, and an occasional Spanish or Portuguese, made
up the variety. A large portion of the inhabitants ex-
hibited as great a variety in their language, as did the
shipping in their colors. There were entire streets in-
habited by the French, (Union street, for instance, with «
a slight sprinkling of Spanish and Portuguese,) many of
whom had fled from the massacre of St. Domingo, and
others were brought there by the alluren^ents of priva-
teering ; among the latter was Boutelle, who had acquir-
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32 REMINISCENCE? OF THE
ed great wealth by his numerous captures. Before I
arrived there, this man gave a public entertainment, of
which hundreds partook, and at which, the heads were
taken from the wine casks placed in the street for the
use of the multitude. At the close of the entertainment,
a procession was formed, led by Boutelle; (preceded by
a band of music,) arm in arm with Charles Coatsworth
Pinckney, afterwards ambassador to France, a major-
general in the army of the United States, and twice the
Federal candidate for the Presidency. In this style they
marched to the theatre.
There was a regular established Jacobin Club in
Charleston, at this period, which lasted long after I arri-
ved there. The most noisy and active member of the
dTub was a Frenchman, by the name of Duvernett, be-
tween sixty and seventy years of age, who wore, instead
of a hat, a red worsted cap upon his head, and could be
heard, at all hours of the day, by persons walking in
Broad street, before they got within a hundred yards of
him, promulgating his Jacobinical doctrines, in a style of
vociferation, known only to such men as he was, and the
Billingsgate fish-women of London. About this time,
Robert Goodloe Harper came from the interior to reside
in Charleston ; he fought his way into notice by a duel
with one of the Rutledges, who, I believe, escaped, as
Several of them have, by the hollowness of their backs,
not of their heads. Harper became a member, and I
believe Vice President of the club, wearing the " bonnet
rvuge? with great grace and dignity. I leave my read-
ers to judge as to the affinity of Jacobinism with federal-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 33
ism. The great John Rutledge, and his distinguished
brother, Edward, were both living. John, who had been
chosen Dictator in the Revolution, was, by Washington,
appointed Chief Justice of the United States, and held
one court in Philadelphia, before it was discovered that
he was subject to fits of insanity. Edward succeeded
Vanderhorst, or Charles Pinckney, as Governor of the
State, and died in that high office ; he was a most accom-
plished gentleman, and eloquent orator. After John's
fits of insanity had increased upon him, he was elected a
member of the State Legislature, upon the ground that if
be had a lucid interval of a day, he would do more for
the general good in that period, than any half dozen oth-
ers could do during the session ; he had the lucid interval
and did do it.
At the period I have been speaking of, Charleston was
the most aristocratic city in the Union, notwithstanding
her Jacobin club, with her red liberty caps, and fraternal
hugs. There was a complete nobility in every thing but
the title, and a few with that appendage : there were
Pierce Butler, cousin of the Duke of Ormond, Sir John
Nesbitt, Baronet, the Rt. Hon. Richard Berresford, if my
memory serves, brother of Lord Berresford, with some
others that do not occur to me at this moment ; also old
lady Mary Mkldleton : she was a smart business lady, ,
although advanced in life; she kept her own accounts, and
attended to the business of her estates personally* The
door of the " St Cecelia Society " was shut to the ptebian
and the man of business, with the two exceptions of Adam
Tunno, king of the Scotch, and William Crafts, vise-king
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34 . REMINISCENCES OF THE
of the Yankees, under their legitimate head, Nathaniel
Russel, than whom there was no better man. A large
portion of the most distinguished families of those days,
were descendants of the French, who fled at the revoca-
tion of the edict of Naptz, and took up their abode
in South Carolina; among them the Hugers, the Hor-
rys, the Porchers, the Managaults, the Prioleaus, the
Gailliards, and many others. The political profes-
sions of her leading men in those days, were of the
Jeflerson school, but their practice was aristocracy com-
plete. But aristocracy cannot long exist without heredi-
tary estates and titles : as a proof of it* there is scarcely
a distinguished man in their whole State now, who has
iP&scended from any of those aristocratic families who
then gave tone to society, and laws to the State. The
present Mayor of Charleston, the Hon. H. L. Pinckney,
son of Charles, is a striking exception. The aristocracy
of wealth and family have been compelled to give way
to the aristocracy of mind ; all her most distinguished
men of the present day are self-made ; for instance, Cal-
houn, McDuffie, Hayne, Hamilton, Pettigrew, Duncan,
Cheves, Legare, R. Yeadon, jr. and a host of others,
forming all together an aggregate of talent not equalled
by the population of any other State in the Union.
f The aristocracy I have alluded to, was carried to that
extent that it was held disreputable to attend to business
of almost any kind ; even the learned professions were
admitted into the front rank in society only to a limited
extent. All the merchants, with a very few exceptions,
were^flrom the Eastern States, or Europe. The corn-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 35
merce of Charleston at the period I am speaking of, far
exceeded any thing of later years, as her exports were
great, and her imports were equal not only to her own
consomption, but to supply a large portion of Georgia on
the one hand, and North Carolina on the other. The
forced and smuggling trade to the then Spanish and Por-
tuguese South American colonies, in British manufac-
tures, was immense, and extremely lucrative, bringing in
return large quantities of specie, and innumerable cargoes
of coffee, cocoa, and sugar, which were re-shipped to
Hamburg, Bremen, Amsterdam, &c. Many of the mer-
chants accumulated large fortunes, which enabled them
to cope with the wealthiest planters in their style of living.
Every thing was imported, even to birch twigs for sweegji
ing vessels' decks ! The great staples of the State then,
were rice, indigo, and tobacco. Cotton was so little
known and cultivated, that Mr. Jay, in his famous treaty,
made no provision for its introduction into England; a
circumstance which caused both him and the treaty to
be spoken of with the most marked contempt by the
citizens. I was present and heard the pourings out of
their wrath against it when it reached Charleston in July,
1795. The excitement was great : a meeting was called
at St Michael's Church, which was addresse4 by the
Rutledges, and by John J. Pringle. In the midst of the
proceedings, Charles Pinckney arrived from the country,
and gave vent to his feelings in a mqst tremendous burst
of indignant eloquence against the treaty. He was very
great at a philippic, on the spur of the occasion ; besides
he was an excellent political writer ; he was the jmthor
*
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86 REMINISCENCES OF THE
of the different series of numbers signed " A Republican,"
in the "City Gazette," between 1810 and 1816. Joseph
Alston wrote " The Mountaineer" during the same peri-
od, and my humble self the numbers of " Sidney" u Jun-
ius" and "Hampden," — the latter pending the second
election of Mr. Madison. It is a fact highly creditable
to the distinguished men of South Carolina, that in all
' cases of emergency, they fly to the aid of the press, not
leaving Editors, as in most places, to sustain the cause
aloner In all such cases, the periodical press of South
Carolina pours forth a torrent of intellect no where else
to be met' with. Truth compels me to admit, however,
that the object of it is too often State, at the expense of
Rational politics.
CONTINUATION OF MY FIRST REMINISCENCES OP CHARLESTON.
Written March 10, 1840.
Charleston had a number of charitable institutions, two
of which were unsurpassed by any similar institutions in
the Union. I allude to the Orphan House, and South
Carolina Society. The Orphan House receives within
its walls all destitute orphans, whether male or female ;
feeds, clothes, and educates them ; and when arrived at
an age to earn their own living, provides suitable places
for them-, still having an eye to their kind treatment and
proper proficiency in the duties, or professions, that have
been assigned them. It is conducted by a Board of
Commissioners, who not only know their duty, but do it
The South Carolina Society is solely a charitable in-
stitution, intended to provide for the widows and children
of suqjfcmembers as are left in a situation to ask it If
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 87
my memory is correct, the allowance is three hundred
dollars per annum to widows, and their children are
schooled at the expense of the society. The society has
large funds at interest ; and a Society House, in which
the children are educated. Then there is the Fellowship
Society, for similar purposes, with extensive funds. Be-
sides these, are the Saint George's, Saint Andrew's,
Saint Patrick's, German Friendly, and Marine Societies ;
several of which possess extensive funds.
Among the eminent men of Charleston in those days,
besides the Rutledges and Pinckneys, already mentioned,
were generals Moultrie and Gadsden. Each of those
veterans of the Revolution were, I should think, upwards
of seventy when I first saw theqi. Moultrie's memoirs f
have been published since I left Charleston, but I have not
seen them. He was the hero of Fort Moultrie, which
took its name from him. His gallant and successful de-
fence of it on the 28th of June, 1776, had he done nothing
else, would have handed his name down to the remotest
posterity. But he was not more celebrated for his bravery
and skill in war, than for all those virtues that adorn the
domestic circle in peace. He was the best company of
any man I ever saw of his years, and could set the table
in a roar whenever it suited him. The old loved, the
young venerated and respected him. He was a great
favorite with the ladies, whose faithful admirer and most
chivalrous defender he had ever been. » General Gadsden
was his senior. I saw only enough of him to learn to ap-
preciate him as a soldier of the Revolution, and a patriotic
and most enterprising citizen. Governor Charles jjfctck-
VOL.I. 4
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88 REMINISCENCES OF THE
ney used to relate the following excellent anecdote of the
venerable patriot with great good humor, although it was
at his (Mr. Pinckney's) own expense. Mr. Pinckney
inherited a fortune : and on coming of age and taking
possession of it, having had a finished education, his first
object was to get elected to the legislature, which then
set in Charleston. It so happened that his overseer was
appointed judge of the election, which was held a few
miles from town. The day was very stormy: Mr.
Pinckney went and voted, the judge voted, and none else
went to vote ; consequently he was returned duly elected.
When the legislature met, and Mr. Pinckney had quali-
fied, general Gadsden rose with great gravity, and said,
** u Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the house upon having
young gentlemen of talents and fortune come among us ;
and, sir, what adds greatly to the interest upon this occa-
sion, I understand the gentleman has the unanimous vote
of his constituents." This put the house in a roar.
On the bench were judges Grimkie, Bay, Burke, Bee,
and Waities ; and soon after, Johnson, Trezevant, Lee,
and Wild. At the bar, John J. Pringle, attorney-general,
a man of great power, and good as he was great, Wm.
Marshall, J. B. Holmes, Wm. H. De Saussure, and Tim-
othy Ford, were the most eminent. Of physicians, David
Ramsay, the historian, Joseph Ramsay, Stevens, Chan-
dler, Wilson, Finlay, McCalla, and Barron, were distin-
guished. At the head of the clergy was the Rt. Rev.
Bishop Smith, of the Episcopal church : he made himself
very useful by keeping the best school in the city. Of
the 9tme church were Doctors Jenkins, Purcel, and
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 39
Frost Of the Presbyterians were the Rev. Doctors
Keith and Hollingshead : they preached alternately in
the same churches. I listened to their preaching for a
number of years. Then there was the Rev. Doctor
Buist, of the Scotch Presbyterian church : he was a pro-
found scholar, and greatly promoted the cause of educa-
tion by teaching a school. The Rev. Dr. Furman, of the
Baptist church, was a man of strong mind, of great piety,
and unblemished character, practising what he preached.
The Methodists had at that early day of their church in
America, become quite numerous, having three churches.
I recollect but one of the resident ministers ; his name
was Hammet. Either Bishop Coke, or Asbury attended
the conferences. With the former I was intimately ac-
quainted. He was a man of vast biblical learning, and
well read in general literature ; his conversation was both
agreeable and instructive. He was held in high estima-
tion. Asbury was a man of such an amiable disposition,
and unobtrusive piety and goodness, that it was impossi-
ble to know and not to respect him. The last I shall
notice was the Rev. Doctor Gallaher, of the Roman
Catholic church. He was a man of vast intellect, as his
philosophical essays abundantly prove. I will mention
one fact that came within my own observation. When
I was a member of the Moot Society, he was elected
our President. He was fond of a glass of good wine,
and sometimes took one too much : this happened to be
the case the first time he met the society. It was very
full ; we conducted him to the chair, he lay his head
down upon the desk before him, and, as we supposed,
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40 REMINISCENCES OF THE
went to sleep. There was an essay to be read, which
took half an hour ; followed by a debate of upwards of
two hours. The question was, " which was most ruinous
to a State, war or luxury ? " There were two disputants
appointed on each side of the question, and as many
volunteered as pleased. It was on this' occasion that
Joseph Alston volunteered, describing the horrors of war
in a speech of great eloquence and power. During the
whole time, the president had not raised his head. At
the close of the speaking, there was a moment's silence;
he looked up, and said, "gentlemen, have you &U done 1"
On being answered in the affirmative, he commenced
with the essay, pointed out its faults and its beauties, and
then took up the debate, in the same order in which it
had been spoken ; and having gone through with it, sum-
med up the whole in a speech of about twenty minutes,
and decided the question I
There were many great commercial houses in Charles-
ton at this time. The most conspicuous were the fol-
lowing : Nathaniel Russell, Kirk & Lukens, Mann &
Foltz, James & Edwin Gardiner, Robert Hazelhurst &
Co., Vos & Graves, Whitfield & Brown, Jennings &
Wooddrop, Campbell, Harvey & Co., J. & J. Hargraves,
Casper C. Schutt, Charles Banks & Co., Williamson &
Stoney, John Brownlee, William Turpin, Allan, Mason
& Ewing, Frederick Kohne, William & James Thayer,
Tunno & Cox, E. Coffin, Thomas Tunno, and a hundred
others of minor consideration. Not one of the above
was a native of South Carolina, except Mr. Stoney ; nor
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 41
was there a man among them, who took an active part
in politics,
I have noticed, in the Charleston papers of late years,
among their men of business, numerous names who are
evidently the descendants of those who once considered
business degrading, but now see, that to secure to them-
selves the benefits of that commerce, which must ever
result from such an immense source of agricultural wealth,
they must take their commercial business out of the hands
of British and Eastern agents, and attend to it themselves.
Such was Charleston in 1795.
SANDWICH ISLANDS.
# Written Nowmber 8, 1837.
It is now fifty years since the ship Columbia, Capt
Kendrick, and the sloop Washington, of only sixty tons
burthen, as tender to the ship, were fitted out at, and
sailed from, Boston, on a voyage of trade and discovery
round the world. This was the first enterprise of the
kind, and was crowned with success. There are circum-
stances attending it that are fresh in my memory, and
worthy of record. When the expedition arrived on the
northwest coast, Capt Kendrick turned his back on his
country, prevailed on a number of seamen to join him,
took possession of the sloop Washington, and refused to
return. Capt, Robert Gray then took command of the
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42 BMMIlf ISCENCK8 OF THE
Columbia, and continued the voyage. On his return, he
called at the different clusters of islands in the south seas,
and among the rest at the Sandwich, where, as well as in
other places, he met with the most friendly attentions
from the natives, particularly at Owyhee, where their
king resided. Such was the confidence placed in Capt
Gray, both by king and people, that they permitted him
to bring away with him to Boston, their crown prince,
fully relying on his promise to return him to them* The
ship was absent upwards of three years, and had not
been heard from for a large portion of the time, when,
in the summer of 1790, in a fine afternoon, I had just
arrived in Boston, from Worcester, when a strange ship,
bearing the stars and stripes of our country, arrived
abreast of the castle, and fired a national salute, which
was promptly returned by that fortress. The firing was
distinctly heard and seen from Boston, but no one could
imagine what ship it was, bearing our country's flag, and
doing and receiving such high honor. The inhabitants
were all in motion, and going to the long wharf by
thousands ; in the interim, the ship was recognized and the
artillery were ordered out. As she came to anchor off
the end of the wharf, the delighted multitude rent the
air with joyful acclamations, while salvos of artillery
shook the neighboring hills, and the astonished people
hurried into the city to join in the general joy. The ship
having returned the salute of the city, the custom house
barge was manned, when the venerable General Lincoln,
collector of the port, with the owners of the Columbia,
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 43
repaired on board, and after bidding a hearty welcome
to Capt. Gray and his princely passenger, they all return-
ed to the wharf together, when the air again rung with
loud acclaim, and the artillery again poured forth its
thunder. The prince, who was an Apollo in personal
symmetry and beauty, was dressed in a helmet of the
ancient Roman form, covered with small feathers of the
most beautiful plumage, which glittered in the sun, while
on his body he wore a close dress, not visible, except the
sleeve, and, over it, a large and flowing robe, in the form
of the toga, made of cloth, covered with feathers precisely
like the helmet. In this splendid costume, he took the
arm of Capt. Gray, and a procession being formed, they
marched to Governor Hancock's, who had sent his adju-
tant-general, Donaldson, to bid them welcome. After a
residence of some months, the ship was refitted, and with
the same commander returned the prince in safety to his
country and his friends; from thence sprung all that
friendly intercourse between those happy islanders and
the United States, to whom they are indebted for civili-
zation and the useful arts, which are making rapid pro-
gress among them, as will be seen from the following
extracts from their papers, which brought back to my
recollection these reminiscences.
FROM THE BALTIMORE GAZETTE, OCTOBER 97, 1837.
We have received a file of the Sandwich Island Ga-
zette, from the 7th January to the 11th of March inclu-
sive — it is published at Honolulu, Oahu, printed in the
English language, and is quite an interesting little paper.
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44 REMINISCENCES OF THE
One of the numbers wears the habiliments of mourning
in consequence of the demise of the princess Harieta
Nathienaina, daughter of the reigning king. Her remains
were not interred until several weeks after her decease,
so great was the king's attachment for his daughter, that
he was unwilling to have her removed from his presence
until necessity compelled the separation. The funeral
ceremonies were conducted with great pomp — the Brit-
ish and American consuls were present on the occasion.
The papers do not contain any thing of moment ; we
however glean a few items from them, which may inter-
est some of our readers. One of the numbers contains
a list of the foreign arrivals at Oahu during the year
1836, from which it appears that there were 110 arrivals,
71 being from the U. States, and 15 from Great Britain.
The shipping list says, " Fifty-two whale ships arrived
during the last season, having on board 69,640 barrels
of oil. Forty-eight of the vessels cruised on Japan, and
took 26,845 barrels, or about 559 barrels to each vessel. 9
The vessels included w these estimates are vessels of
war, merchant, whaling, sealing, shelling, and other ves-
sels, employed in different parts of the Pacific ; they visit
those islands for the various purposes of commerce, to
dispose of their cargoes, to refit, refresh, &c. The total
number of tons of the shipping is stated to be about 33,050.
In speaking of money, the editor remarks — " A Caro-
lus of Rising Sun is so seldom seen now, that the doctors
use them for 'panaceas' to cure their patients — the
mere sight of one being sufficient to raise a person far
gone in consumption."
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 45
What will some of the editors that have been croaking
about large vegetables, think of the yam described in the
following paragraph from the Sandwich Island paper?
Mammoth Yam. — We are informed by a gentleman
who some time since visited Tougatabo, that he there
saw a yam, which, from a careful examination, he judged
would weigh about a ton ! This vegetable monster had
been growing twelve years, on a spot of ground called
tabud, from the circumstance of a chief of high rank being
killed on the spot. The captain of a whale ship obtained
permission to take it to his vessel, but being interdicted
from breaking it up on shore, he was unable to remove it.
It will be seen from the following, that the Sandwich
Islanders are not exempt from the attack of a disease
well known in our climate.
Influenza. — Our village has been rudely visited by
the influenza ; lately this ugly complaint is quite out of
place in our delightful climate. Sneezing, coughing,
headache, hoarseness, and the other attendant evils, are
as plenty as blackberries.
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4& REMINISCENCES OF THE
DEDHAM, BOSTON, <&c. IN 1798.
Written February 3, 1889.
I spent the summer of 1798 at Dedham and its vicinity,
I arrived early in June, and took lodgings at Gay's tav-
ern, eleven miles from Boston by the old road. Dedham
was then a very pleasant village, and the permanent
residence of a number of genteel families, which number
was greatly increased by the breaking out of the yellow
fever in Boston in July, that driving a great many families
out of the town, not only to Dedham, but into all the
neighboring towns and villages. Among the resident
families of Dedham, were Fisher Ames, and his elder bro-
ther, Dr. Ames; their venerable mother was still living,
although at a great age, in fine health and spirits, near to
them, and in the house in which they were born. Fisher
Ames was a distinguished member, not a leader, of the
Essex Junto. He lived in a genteel modern mansion,
which he built soon after his marriage with Miss Wor-
thington, of Springfield, between and nearly equi-distant
from his mother on the one side, and his brother on the
other. The old lady's residence was of great antiquity,
being much the oldest in the vicinage. The two bro-
thers, in their politics, were as opposite as possible ; the
one, Fisher, being a black cockade federalist, and the other
a republican of the Jeffersonian school. This circum-
stance had completely severed them for a number of
years, until their friends interposed, and brought them
together again, on the express condition that neither
should talk politics in the presence of the other. There
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 47
were also other resident families of the first respectability,
among whom I recollect Mr. Wakefield's, the brother of
the celebrated Gilbert Wakefield, and Mr. Grew's, both
of whom fled from England with Priestly and Cooper,
soon after the Birmingham riots, in which Priestly lost
many of his invaluable manuscripts and library. There
were also Mrs. Hodgdon, afterwards Mrs. Stackpole,
the young widow of the old State treasurer, Alexander
Hodgdon, Esq., John Lathrop, Esq., a man of fine talents,
the son of the Rev. Doctor Lathrop, and his accomplished
lady, previously Miss Anna Pierce. These, with those
who fled from the pestilence in Boston, formed as pleasant
a social and intellectual society as was to be met with in
Boston, or elsewhere ; add to whom, there were in less
than two miles distance, the Spragues, with the immense
estate left them by their grandfather a short time before,
and the Misses Fales, one of whom was afterwards mur-
dered by Fairbanks, who expiated his crime upon a
scaffold.
At a gathering one evening, Mr. Ames proposed there
should be a fishing party, including the ladies, and prepa-
ration being made, by getting up a collation for the occa-
sion, a day or two after, some thirty or forty of us repair-
ed to the place appointed, in a beautiful grove, near the
bank of the river, jvhere some amused themselves in
fishing, others in waiting upon the ladies, and others
again, in strolling through the groves, until the usual hour
of dinner arrived, when the cloth was spread upon the
green turf, and a bountiful collation soon served upon it,
to which the beauty of the surrounding scenery — the
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48 REMI JHSCENCE8 OF THE
wholesqjne exercise that preceded it — the delightful
coolness of the air in the shade of a clump of venerable
oaks — bqt above qH, the presence of a number of beau-
tiful and intelligent ladies, gave a zest to the entertain-
ment which I think can scarcely be forgotten by the
participants in tfce scene.
After dinner some set and conversed, while others
promenaded through the groves; among the latter was
a sprightly and noble looking widow, and one of her
numerous admirers, a young gentleman, a native of Ded-
' ham, who lived in Fayetteville, N. C, but was then on a
visit to his parents. Having arrived at a spot of uncom-
mon beauty, a gentleman present, who was a magistrate,
proposed that there ehould be a wedding, when the lady
and gentleman already alluded to, stood up together and
were married agreeably to the laws of the State in which
they were. It was not until the ceremony was com-
pleted, that it occurred to any one present, that the gen-
tleman who performed it, was legally authorized so to do.
This put a new face upon the whole matter ; while some
enjoyed the joke, others looked grave, and began to think
' it was no joke ; but, the gentleman was a gentleman, and
at once relieved the lady from all the consequences in
which, in a thoughtless moment, she had involved her-
self, although in doing so, I know, from his own lips, he
sacrificed his own feelings. Before evening set in all
returned to Dedham, well pleased with the pleasures of
the day.
My elder brother was then an eminent physician in
Boston, which place I visited two or three times a week,
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*•-•
#
•
LAST SIXTY-FIVE VEAS8, 49 •
having no apprehensions of danger from the disease, as
I had already gone through it in Charleston, three years
before, having it as bad as any t one 'could have it, and
live. The town was, of course, to a great degree, de-
serted and dull. The yellow fever which broke out on
Goddard's wharf, had its origin in the decomposition of
a quantity of codfish^ in one of the stores on the whar£
and upwards of two htindred, in the course of the season,
fell victims to it. I purchased a fine saddle horse*at
auction one day, and took him out to Dedham, from
whence I made excursions to the distance of ten to
twenty miles round the country. In one of my morning *
rides, I went to Braintree, and fell in with his excellency
John Adams, then President of the United States ; he
was taking the air on horseback, in a jog trot ; I rode
up beside him and paid my respects to the then Chief*
Magistrate of our country. We soon got into conver-
sation, which in the first instance, turned entirely upon
the fever raging in Boston. It then turned upon politics,
when I soon discovered he wished to know who he was
conversing with. I told him my name and family, when
he remarked, " Your father and uncle were staunch
whigs in the Revolution ; I wish I could say they were
so now." I understood him perfectly, as I knew my
uncle, Isaiah Thomas, had published a most severe pam-
phlet against him, when he was Vice President, entitled
" The dangerous Vice P 1." It was immediately
after the organization of the government under the Con-
vol. i s
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4
* * #60* * * R«BlIft§3<?*Ntas Of THE
* " stitution, flo^ t rec<fllect*some poetical lines it contained,
VIZi — *■' v
* * " (Gfodftftow thejrtj sttjre,Jih6uld fickle fortune drop
* %*he. mushrgon lordLings w^ere she picked them up,
' * ■ In tinker's, coblertt* or t>ook-binder'st shop."
I teoiarfod to him *at my father had* never changed,
and h^lLfeken bo active part in politics since the Revolu-
J non, whithjie admitted. By this time we had returned
to fcis^raansion, when he invited me in, but as we were
^lfljodes in politics, I declined the invitation, and passed
*n to. General Badlam's, in Dorchester, where I passed
%p hour or two with his charming daughters, and return-
ee^ to Dedham to dinner.
On the fourth of July, Mr. Lathrop, before mentioned,
delivered an oration, which contained some splendid
periods: I remember the first one in his exordium; it
was in these words : " From the turret crowned palace
of the monarch, to the grove sheltered cottage of the
humble peasant; from the highest sphere in supreme
dominion, to the lowest grade in the family of man, inde-
pendence is a blessing most valued, most dear."
# In August, or September, the court set at Dedham,
and the town J>ecame excessively crowded. The great
Sprague cause was to be tried, in which, if my memory
serves, one hundred and sixty thousand dollars were
depending. The counsel engaged, were probably the
ripst powerful that ever were engaged in one cause, in
* John Adams' father is said to have been a shoe-maker.
t General Knox, then Secretary of War, was originally a book-
binder.
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» • • 1 *
♦ l . .-••*•/
* k* * v » * * 4
1|A8T fSJ|XTlr-VlV|[*YJpArflNk * 51
this, or any other country. When I«namejAern f I think .
that all who knew them, wifl *kdrait Hhe, truth of Ihy
remark. .There were lTheop^|li^ Parsons^Stauel Dex- ' j
ter, Fisher Ames, Laban W4ie*to$, George Richard* ,
Minot, Harrison Gray Otis, Rjufus Grajt Amdry,*a!hcr\
Harringtoif. I was then readiqg' law «hder the
direction of the Jate Judge Johnson, of the United gtate^
Supreme Court, and the town being so full, my hostess
requested me to take some of the gentlemen ijttD rfty
rooms. To this I made no objection, provided I nH<J#
my own selection^ I did so — and took Messrs. Dexter, *
Wheaton and Harrington. We had a parlor and beds,
room, in the former of which we ate, and in the latt0$ f
all of us slept ; and although we retired at a seasonable
hour, it was one or two in the morning, before we slept,
particularly if Mr. Dexter was in the vein ; for he
abounded in anecdote, and while he talked, none could,
or wished to sleep. Among others, he related an anec-
dote of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, which was
alike celebrated both for its talent and dignity. The
court met at Springfield, and Chief Justice Dana being
unwell, was not in attendance, and consequently Judge J
Paine, the next in seniority, presided. He was one of
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a
man of the most unbending integrity, both moral and
political. A number of gentlemen of Hartford, Con^^
necticut, who had often heard the court spoken of,
mounted their horses, and rode over to Springfield, to
witness the proceedings. The first c^pse upon the
docket, (and the last, we suspect, of the kind, tried ii^the
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# 52 ^EMINLSCENtlES fF THf
tJnited States) was an indictment for lascivious conduct
The first witness called* upon the stand was a "New-
light" preacher, who* when 'questioned, felt a delicacy
, in arfswering^ The Judge told him to speak out. He
still hesitated ; he was told again ; but still evaded the
answer required. The Judge, whose temper was none
of the mildest, got angry and threatened to commit him ;
this had* the desired effect, and the answer was such, as
fully to satisfy the Connecticut gentlemen of the dignity
of the court, and they immediately returned home.
; We will now return to the court at Dedham. Mr.
Dexter and Mr. Parsons were pitted against each other.
]yLr. Amory had hunted up all the authorities and placed
a mark at each. Mr. Dexter requested me to take a
seat beside him, and hand him the authorities as he
wanted them, which afforded me the best possible oppor-
tunity of hearing every word that escaped the lips of that
great man. Placing one foot upon a chair, and folding
his arms across his breast, he began ; and such a con-
tinued stream of reasoning, without noise, and without
effort, (it was like pouring oil from a flask,) as he poured
out for four hours, I never heard before, or since. Mr.
Parsons made several attempts to interrupt him. At
last, Mr. Dexter turned to him and said, " Mr. Parsons,
if you have an overflow of wit, have the goodness to
reserve it for the close : you have already driven several
*ideas out of my head." The Chief Justice remarked,
- " never mind, Mr. Dexter ; if he should deprive you of
as many mor§, you would still have enough left for Mr.
Parsons." There were no more attempts at interruption.
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• LAST SIXTY-FIVE *E A R S . * 53 ^
♦ . ■•
• %
Mr, Parsons' style, it is in vam for me to attempt to*
designate by any other appellation than a sledge-hammer
style, beating down all before it with such tremendous
effect, as to make it very difficult to keep in view^ven
a portion of what had been said by those wh<* had gjpe-
ceded him. He. was a great sloven ; ^ore a bandanna
handkerchief tied carelessly about his neck, and his beard, .
and his shirt, a week sometimes, or he was slandered ;
but if I were to judge from appearances, there was more
truth than poetry in it. He was a man of mighty mind ;
and as long ago as more than half a century, he was
known throughout New England as " the giant of the
law."
Mr. Wheaton was a graceless speaker, without elo-
quence in matter or manner, but his reasoning powers
were only second to Mr. Dexter.
Mr. Otis was a man of fine face and perfect symmetry
of person, remarkably neat in his dress, of the most en-
gaging manners, an eloquent and fascinating speaker,
though not a profound reasoner.
Mr. Ames was eloquence personified; the silvery
tones of his voice fell upon the ear, like strains of sweetest *
music ; you could not choose but listen with delight, but
when he had finished, the effect died away upon your
mind, as the sound had done upon your ear ; the impres-
sion was not lasting ; he could not beat it into you, as
Parsons, Dexter and Wheaton could.
I am not certain that Messrs. Minot, (the American
Sallust) Amory, and Harrington, spoke on the occasion ;
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54 RBMIHISCEHCES OF THB ^
m
if they did, it has escaped my memory : they were afl
gentlemen of high reputation.
Ther* is an anecdote of Mr. Ames I must not omit,
although it caused a hearty laugh at his expense. There
lived in Dedham a laborer, a man of great natural wit,
and smartness of repartee, by the name of Kingsley.
He had a great dislike to Mr. Ames, and never let pass
an opportunity of showing it A town meeting was held,
at which Mr. Ames made an able and eloquent speech ;
Kingsley in his dirty frock and trowsers, had taken a seat
in the adjoining pew; and no sooner had Mr. Ames
finished, than he rose and said, " Mr. Moderator, my
brother Ames' eloquence reminds me of nothing but the
shining of a fire-fly, which gives just light enough to show
its own insignificance ;" and down he sat, having thus at
a blow, by exciting the risibles of the audience, destroyed
all the effect of Mn Ames' eloquence.
In August or September, I wrote u Sidney? addressed
to President Adams, and sent it to the post office in
Boston, directed to the Independent Chronicle, published
by Adams and Rhodes, • who never knew who was the
author. Two days after, I rode into Boston and found
that Sidney was published, and made quite a stir " upon
change? and I was not a little flattered to learn that
it was attributed to the celebrated Doctor Charles Jarvis,
who declared to me he was not the author, nor did he
know who was. All of this I could readily believe, as
there was but one person, besides myself, in the secret
Mr. Russel came out in the " Centinel" very severe
upon the Doctor ; and that there should be no mistake as
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*. LAST SIXTY-PIVB TEARS. 65
«
to who he took for the author, he said, " The calomel and
jallap of the law would soon be administered to him?
This satisfied me that they had no suspicion of my being
the author. The sedition law was then in the full tide
of successful experiment, and I had no particular desire
to come within the reach of its tender mercies, which
Matthew Lyon and others were then in the full enjoy-
ment of. Adams and Rhodes were prosecuted for the
publication, and Mr. Adams died while the prosecution
was pending. My friend to whom I had confided the
authorship, could not keep a secret, but must tell it to
Doctor Ames, and it became known to some few others.
The court met soon after, and the judge gave it in charge
to the grand jury; and so far as he had been able to get
information on the subject, recommended me to their
particular attention; but it was too late, the bird had
flown, I was then at Newport, on my way to Charleston.
The following notice of the above is from the " Norfolk Democrat?
published at " Dedham."
" Mr. Thomas, the author of the excellent article, in another column,
headed * Reminiscences of Dedham/ is well remembered by many of our l *
aged and substantial citizens. His article revives in their minds many
pleasant recollections of by-gone days. They still remember the gentle-
manly deportment of Mr. T. while a resident of Dedham, and are pleased
to learn that he has not forgotten them/'
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*
56 REMINISCENCES OF THE
THE LATE JOHN RANDOLPH.
On a bright sunny morning, early in February, 1796,
might have been seen entering my book-store, in Charles-
ton, South Carolina, a fine looking, florid complexioned
old gentleman, with hair as white as snow ; which, con-
trasted with his complexion, showed him to have been a
free liver, or bon vivant, of the first order. Along with
him was a tall, gauky-looking, flaxen-haired stripling,
apparently of the age of from sixteen to eighteen, with a
complexion of a good parchment color, beardless chin,
and as much assumed self-consequence as any two-footed
animal I ever saw: — this was John Randolph. I
handed him from the shelves volume after volume, which
he tumbled carelessly over and handed back again ; at
length he hit upon something that struck his fancy — my
eye happened to be fixed upon his face at the moment,
and never did I witness so sudden, so perfect a change
of human countenance; that which before was dull and
heavy, in a . moment became animated, and flashed
, with the brightest beams of intellect: he stepped up
to the old grey headed gentleman, and, giving him a
thundering slap on the shoulder, said, "Jack, look at thisT
I was young then, but I never can forget the thought
that rushed upon my mind at the moment, which was,
that he was the most impudent youth I ever saw.
He had come to Charleston to attend the races. There
was then living in Charleston a Scotch baronet, by the
name of Sir John Nesbit, with his younger brother,
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Alexander, of the ancient house of Nesbits, of Dean Hall,
some fifteen miles from Edinburgh. Sir John was a
very handsome man, and as "gallant, gay Lotlmrio," as
could be found in the city. He and Randolph became
intimate, which led to a banter between them for a race,
in which each was to ride his own horse. The race
came off during the race week, and Randolph won —
some of the ladies exclaiming at the time, " though Mr.
Randolph had won the race, Sir John had won their
hearts? This was not so much to be wondered at, when
you contrasted the elegant form and graceful style of
riding of the baronet, with the uncouth and awkward
manner of his competitor.
Some two or three years after this visit to Charleston,
he was elected a member of congress, and such was still
his youthful appearance, that when he appeared at the
clerk's table to qualify, that gentleman could not refrain
from asking him his age : the answer was prompt, if not
satisfactory, — " ask my constituents, sir," was the reply.
John Adams was then President, and Mr. Randolph took
a decided part against his -administration. Congress was
sitting in Philadelphia, and Mr. Adams' " hot water war 1
with France" being then on the tapis, the latitude Mr.
Randolph gave his tongue in debate, occasioned his being
assaulted in the lobby of the theatre, by an officer of the
army or navy, I do not recollect which, or who he was ;
but Mr. Randolph made a formal complaint, which, to
the best of my memory, met with but a cold reception.
Party runs high enough now, and much too high for the
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58 REMINISCENCES OT fffE
good of the country; but he who Supposes, it never rose
higher, knows nothing of the period to which I allude.
Among the members of corigless, Mr. Randolph had
but few personal friends, but those few he " riveted to
his heart with hooks of steel." Among them was the
Hon. Mr. Bryan, from Georgia ; the late Governor David
R. Williams, of South Carolina, and the still later venera-
ble Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina. At the close
of a^ session, soon after the removal of congress to
Washington, the former of these gentlemen (Mr. Bryan)
married a daughter of General Foreman, of Maryland,
and with her and her sister, spent some days in Charles-
ton, when on their way to his estate in Georgia. On
tiiis occasion, Mr. Bryan showed me a letter which he had
just received from Mr. Randolph, congratulating him
upon his marriage. A letter of more beautiful simplicity
and feeling, I never read. I recollect that, while the
writer dwelt upon the happiness and advantages to be
expected from a wedded life, he spoke feelingly of never
expecting to enjoy them himself.
The Yazoo fraud, a greater than which never dis-
gjjfaced the annals of a state or nation, came before con-
gress about this time. I am acquainted with some of
the nefarious transactions which gave rise to this stupen-
dous villainy. In 1794, a number of men in Georgia,
joined by some in South Carolina, calling themselves the
Yazoo company, applied to the legislature of Georgia
in 1795, for a grant of an immense tract of territory, to
which she had no right, and over which she had no juris-
diction : but the men who formed this company were not
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LAS?* StX<T*-FIVE TEARS. 59
*
to be easily put of£ ana a title from some legislature was
indispensable to the success of their scheme. They effect-
ed by bribery the accoroplishmegt of their object ; — it
became a matter of notoriety that the whole, or nearly the
whole, legislature were bribed to grant the title asked
for, but which they had no right to grant. The manner
in which it had been obtained, was bruited in the news-
papers of the day, and none could plead ignorance. The
grant being thus obtained, agents were immediately lent
through the States, to dispose of the "stolen goods?
They visited Boston, where a company was immediatefy
formed, called " The New England Mississippi Land
Company," who purchased to the extent of some millions
of dollars of these lands, knowing them to have been
fraudulently obtained.
I was in Georgia the next year, 1796, when the new
legislature, who had been elected with a direct view to
this object, having assembled at the seat of government,
and taking the necessary preliminary steps, went in grand
procession, with their respective officers at their head,
and burnt, by the hands of the common hangman, the
records of the infamous proceedings of their immediate
predecessors, and with them the infamous grant itself.
The Yazoo claim was, by the New England Missis-
sippi Land Company, to recover from congress the value
of the lands so obtained ; and it was in opposition to this
application, that Mr. Randolph immortalized himself, in
speeches that will stand " the test of time, of scrutiny, and
of talent" It was regularly brought forward at every
session, and as regularly defeated by him. The late
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|0 REMINISe«JlCES OF THE
» m '
General Wade Hampton and O'Efrien'Smith, were both
elected to congress with a sole view to the carrying
through this unrighteoug measufe ; and it was during its
discussion one day, when they were in the house, that
Mr. Randolph made the withering remark, which rung
through the Union at the time. Shaking his long, lank
finger at Mr. Hampton, he exclaimed, at the top of his
voice, u Mr. Speaker, I hope, sir, to see the day when a
Yawo claimant and a villain, will be synonymous terms. 99
On the evening following, Mr. Hampton bundled up his
papers and waited on Mr. Randolph, whose first saluta-
tion on the occasion was, * have you come for peace, or
for war?" " For peace," was the reply, " or I should
not bring these papers." In an evil hour, Mr. Randolph
was left out, and before his re-election the bill was
passed, and the robbery consummated, to the amount of
five millions of dollars — an event which never could
have taken place whilst he had a seat in that house.
Mr. Randolph was always eccentric, and in the latter
part of his life, at times, insane. I witnessed an instance
of it in Baltimore, in the spring of 1820, when he rode
•in an open chair, with a double barrel gun beside him, to
make a morning call, and made his faithful Juba take the
gun into the house after him.
A few days after, he took passage on a steamboat at
Baltimore, for Norfolk : here his insanity showed itself in
a manner none could doubt. There was a French gen-
tleman passenger on board, to whom he took a great
dislike, and calling for his gun, he took possession of the
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cabin door, and would not allow the passenger, who was
on deck, to re-enter the cabin.
His insanity at this tfme w^s known, and spoken of,
by many. No man of a great and sane mind, such as Mr.
Randolph's had been, could, while in a sane state, be
guilty of such conduct as occasionally marked his course
during his short embassy to Russia.
It was generally understood that he was disappointed
many years ago, in not receiving the appointment of
minister to England ; and that from this disappointment,
and the chagrin consequent upon it, sprung all those
eccentricities which marked his erratic course in after
life. This was his misfortune, not his fault.
He was a republican in theory, but an aristocrat in
practice, as his whole life abundantly proved. He pos-
sessed a mind fertilized by every stream of literature, but
the use he made of his great acquirements, were rather
calculated to make enemies than friends ; and yet, as he
once said, " no man was ever blessed with such constitu-
ents " — a fact, which, of itself, speaks volumes in his
praise. If he originated no great national benefits, nor
did no great positive national good, he prevented many
evils ; and in doing so, he became, the benefactor of his
country, although not to the extent he otherwise might
hqpe been.
VOL. I.
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6£ REMINISCENCES OF THE
JUDGE EDANUS BURKE, OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
Written January 10, 1837.
This most excellent but eccentric man, who has now
been dead near thirty years, was, while living, the delight
of a large circle of friends. Some of his eccentricities
have been brought to my recollection, by reading the
following anecdote of him from Davis' Life of Burr:
nothing could be more perfectly in character.
AMUSING INCIDENT.
On the second of September, 1789, an affair of honor took place be-
tween the celebrated Aaron Burr and Mr. Church, at Hoboken. Mr.
' Church was attended by 'Abijah Hammond, Esq., and Colonel Burr by-
Judge Edanus Burke, of South Carolina. The biographer of Burr gives
the following account of a ludicrous incident which occurred on the
ground.
" Previous to leaving the city of New York, Col. Burr presented to
Judge Burke his pistol- case. He explained to the Judge that the balls
were cast intentionally too small, that chamois leather was cut to the
proper size to put round them, but that the leather must be greased, (for
which purpose grease was placed in the case,) or that there would be a
difficulty in getting the ball home. After the parties had taken their
stand, Colonel Burr noticed the Judge hammering the ramrod with a
stone, and immediately suspected the cause. When the pistol was
handed him. by his friend, he drew the ramrod, and ascertained that the
ball was not home, and so informed the Judge : to which Judge Burke
replied, * I forgot to grease the leather ; but you see he is ready, don't
keep him waiting ; just lake a crack as it is, and Til grease the iiext? —
Colonel Burr bowed courteously, but made no other reply, and discharged
his pistol in the state it had been given to him. The anecdote for softe
time afterwards was a subject of merriment among those who had
heard it."
There was a worthy old Dutch lady, by the name of
Van Rhine, who, at one time, lived near the Court-house
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 93 *
in Charleston, where it was convenient for the Judge to
leave his robe, and call for it as he was going into court.
One day he stepped in for it as usual, and taking down
the first black garment that met his eye, he tucked it un-
der his arm and walked into court, ascended the bench, ,
and commenced putting it on, when, to the great amaze-
ment of all present, he discovered that he had got on a
lady's petticoat. Ladies in those days wore pockets, and
the Judge had slipped the petticoat over his head, and got
his arms through the pocket holes, before he discovered
his mistake ; when, with that gravity which seldom for-
sook him, and with his usual asseveration, he exclaimed,
" Before God, I have got on Van Rhine's petticoat !"
The Judge was a bachelor, and kept house, without
any one about him but his servants. He occasionally
had some friends to dine with him. On one of these
occasions he had invited a number, who all were punc-
tual to the hour, but the Judge was not at home, neither
was there any appearance of dinner. Some time had
elapsed before the Judge made his appearance, when
looking round the room he very coolly asked, " to what
happy circumstance am I indebted for the honor of your
company, gentlemen?" when the late Peter Freneau,
Esq., made answer, " Judge, you invited us to dine with
yof ." " Before God, so I did," said the Judge, " but I had
forgotten all about it." He then deliberately walked out
to his kitchen, and gave orders, and in about two hours a
most excellent dinner was smoking upon his table. In
the interim he had so entertained us from his vast resour-
ces of information and anecdote, that the delay was not
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*6tf REMINISCENCES OF THB
' noticed, and in the " straw-colored Madeira" which circu-
lated freely round the board, all the forebodings of disap-
pointment were soon fogotten.
One day the Judge had occasion to employ a brick-
layer to do a small job ; a dispute arose between them,
and the Judge knocked him down with a brickbat. Re-
lating the story in the evening, he concluded with" before
God, was not that pretty conduct for a judge? but I
plastered his head with a ten pound note, (there was
paper medium in those days,) and he was satisfied, and
would have been glad to had it broken once a week on
the same terms."
Setting on the trial of a horse thief, (a capital offence
in South Carolina,) the case was fully proved, as was the
fact that the prisoner, when he committed the act, had
been drinking whiskey. The Judge, who could not bear
the idea of a man's life being put in competition with the
value of a tackey not worth five pounds, in his charge to
the jury, told them that " the citizen's stealing the horse,
was owing to the whiskey he had been drinking," and
added, " when I was a boy, I sometimes drank whiskey,
and if I happened to take a drop too much, I always
felt a great inclination to steal." The prisoner was
acquitted.
I could fill a volume with facts in the life of this sii^u-
lar man, to whom the United States are indebted for
having defeated the hereditary succession of the " Order
of Cincinnati." The Judge wrote a pamphlet on this
subject, which, for terseness and strength of style, was
only surpassed by Junius.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVB TEARS. t&+
MY FIRST VOYAGE TO EUROPE IN 1800.
Written September 1, 1888
I sailed from Charleston, (bound to Liverpool, in the
month of June,) in an old worn out ship, called the Mer-
cury, Captain Waldron. The demand for shipping at
that time was great, and freights were enormous. As
high as six pence sterling per pound was, in two instan-
ces paid for cotton. Add to which, there was a great
scarcity of bread stuffs in England, and every thing that
could float was put in requisition to carry out our sur-
plus in those articles. We soon discovered that our ship
leaked very badly ; so much so, that it took fifteen min-
utes in every hour to keep her free. This made very
hard duty for the crew, which was not a very strong
one ; for seamen were as scarce as ships. Fortunately
the winds were light and fair — nothing remarkable oc-
curred until we arrived on the Banks of Newfoundland,
when, on the fourth of July, the weather was so cold that
the only way we could make ourselves comfortable was
by laying in bed. As is not unusual on the banks, the
weather was very thick — we could not see an hundred
yards ahead. The next morning, just at day light, the
ia&te, whose watch it was, rushed into the cabin, ex-
claiming, at the top of his voice, " Captain Waldron,
there is land close on board /" The Captain was on deck
in a moment, and I, who was the only passenger, was
not long after him. To be close on shore, when by our
reckoning we should be near the middle of the Atlantic,
6*
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. W REMINISCENCES OF THE
was enough to alarm the stoutest heart, and every soul
appeared on deck in a minute. It was now the twilight
of dawn, and the only object at all visible, was a moun-
tain hanging apparently over us — not of earth, or of
rocks, but very much resembling the latter — a mountain
of ice ; besides tvhich, as the fog cleared away, we found
ourselves surrounded by floating islands of the sfcne ma-
terial ; so that it was luff, or bear away, all day, to keep
from running foul of them. Fortunately for us, before
sun set we had them all astern, with a clear course and
fair breeze. Had day light been one hour later, we
should all inevitably have perished, as the immense mass
was directly in our course, and would have been felt as
soon as seen in the darkness of the night. Its altitude
was upwards of two hundred feet How many vessels
have been wrecked and lives lost, whose fate was never
known or heard of, by coming in contact with those
floating mountains, and none been left to tell the horrid
tale !
With our regular "pump music' 9 one-fourth of the time,
night and day, we at length made Cape Clear in Ireland ;
it was in the afternoon, in the latter part of July. A
number, of about thirty, whales passed us within less
than one hundred feet of our stern. Fifteen or twenty
minutes later, from the situation they were in, they might
have done us much mischief. We entered the Cape that
evening — the next day the wind died away, and when
the tide ran ebb we had to come to anchor and wait for
the flood. At the first go off, we lost our kedge and
hawser, after which we had to let go the best bower,
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. &1 1*
and in this way we were eight days " tideing it up to
Liverpool," from the Cape. On the sixth day we took a
pilot on board. On the forenoon of the seventh, a ship,
whose drum we had heard for three or four nights pre-
ceding, made her appearance on our weather beam, at
about a mile distance, and sent her compliments to us in
the shape of an eighteen pound shot that passed through
our main-top sail. Capt. Waldron immediately ordered
it to be backed, and in that position to await further intel-
ligence from the stranger. We had not to wait long, for,
in less than four minutes, there came another shot that
passed about four feet over the head of the man at the
helm, and through the spanker. Our ship was then hove
to, and was soon boarded from our new acquaintance, by
a boat having two officers and six men, who reported
their ship " the sloop of war Reynard, Captain Spicer, on
the impress service." Our crew consisted of the captain,
two mates, eight hands, a steward and cook. Two of
the hands were broken-down discharged English seamen,
one of whom had not been able to do duty for a month.
The lieutenant took command of our ship, ordered the
crew aft, and proceeded to overhaul them. He ordered
into the boat the steward and cook, both slaves belonging
to Charleston, a Portuguese sailor, and Jonathan Wil-
liams, a native of Maine ; and as I walked on one side
the quarter-deck while they had possession of the other,
I overheard a part of a consultation between the two offi-
cers, the subject of which was, whether they should not
press me with the others ; and I believe I was indebted
for my escape to my unseamanlike appearance -— a long
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68 REMINISCENCES OF THE
coat and breeches. They then left us, without hands to
work our ship, which the pilot immediately brought to
anchor, and sent his boat, then in attendance, up to Liv-
erpool, to procure hands for that purpose. This was a
busy day with the Reynard. Head winds having pre-
vailed for a fortnight, a large outward bound fleet had
collected, consisting of upwards of one hundred and fifty
sail, more than one hundred of which were Americans,
and all armed, this being just at the close of "John Ad-
ams 9 hot water war with France."
Reynard was too cunning to meddle with these Yan-
kees, who had all arranged themselves under the com-
mand of captain King, of the ship Kingston, of Philadel-
phia, whom they had appointed Commodore. They
would have been ugly customers for a dozen sloops of
war. The Kingston had two and twenty guns, and the
others from six to sixteen each. These ships had all
taken out cargoes of bread-stufls. Flour then sold at
eighteen dollars per barrel ; and a cargo of rye, from
New- York, sold on arrival, at half a guinea per bushel.
The next morning a boat belonging to the Reynard, that
had lost sight of her in the night, came along side of us,
with a midshipman and four hands, and requested to be
taken to Liverpool. " This was agreed to, provided they,
all hands, went to work and got our ship under way. No
sooner said than done. The poor fellows were glad of
the chance, as they had been rowing all night to overtake
their ship, which had sent them to board some " North
Countrymen," and left them to get on board again as
they could. In the afternoon we got up to town, and
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. * 69
went into Queen's dock, which, notwithstanding the fleet
that had so recently left, was still crowded with Ameri-
can shipping, two hundred and fifty-six sail of which
hoisted the stars and stripes on our nation's birth-day,
about three weeks before.
I had been in dock but a few minutes, and had not
yet put, a foot on shore, when the Lieutenant of the
Reynard' came on board with Williams, to get the wa-
ges that were due him, which Capt Waldron paid, after
remonstrating with the officer on the injustice of their
impressing American seamen. I took part in this
remonstrance, and a warm altercation took place be-
tween me and the Lieutenant ; but, as is the custom,
might overcame right, and he kept his man, but inform-
ed me they had discharged the other three, all of whom
soon after came on board. Capt. Waldron and myself
immediately went to the American Consul, and entered
a protest against the impressment of Williams and the
detention of our ship — all of which was of no avail, as
our venerable Consul (Murray,) told us at the time.
I now, for the first time, had foot on foreign ground,
but having taken lodgings at Mere's American Hotel,
every body and thing around me, was American. The
Mercury was laden with cotton, part of which was my
property. I called upon my consignees, Strickland &
Holland, who advised against an immediate sale, as the
article was on the rise and I was not in a hurry. Liver-
*pool at this period was a very ordinary, dirty town, with
little but its commerce, which was already extensive, to
attract the attention of a stranger. There was the
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70 REMINISCENCES OF THE
Atheneum, with a tolerable library, to which strangers
were admitted on their names being entered daily by-
one of the proprietors. Here I lounged away a portion
of my time. The Sunday after my arrival, I rode out
to Preston, in company with four others, and saw a re-
view of*volunteers by the Earl of Derby, the same who
married Miss Farren, the actress. His Lordship was
then the owner of the finest horse in England, the cele-
brated Sir Peter. On our making known to him that
we had a desire to see the noble animal, he very politely
sent one of his aids to accompany us to the stables for
that purpose. On our return, as we came near to town,
we passed a great number of well dressed people walk-
ing, when our attention was called to observe a very
large, handsome black man, dressed in the very extreme
of elegance and fashion, with an equally well dressed
white lady hanging on each arm. This, to me, who was
from the South, wore rather a singular appearance ;
but there is no accounting for taste. The next evening I
went to the theatre, where I had just got seated, when
the same black gentleman, with the same white ladies,
entered the stage box and took the front seat, without
apparently exciting the attention of any one but myself,
any more than would any other persons.
At the end of a fortnight I took bills on London to the
probable amount of my cotton, (still unsold,) which cost
seventeen cents, and finally sold for two shillings ster-
ling, or forty-four cents. The market was not then, as*
now, governed by the rise, or fall, of a farthing. The
amount of cotton then manufactured in England was not
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 71
equal to that now manufactured in the United States, by
about fifty thousand bales. It is the raising of this great
staple which has made the United States what they are,
and the manufacturing of it, that has made Great Britain
what she is.
On the evening of the 10th of August, I took lfeave of
my Liverpool friends, and departed in the mail coach for
London. The next day I dined at Peeping Tom's, in
Coventry : the sign of the inn was the figure of a man
peeping out of a half opened window, the very same
window from which tradition, if not history, informs us,
Tom gratified his wicked curiosity, contrary to the regu-
lations, in that case made and provided, when Queen
Margaret took her ride. The farce founded on this
story of "Peeping Tom," is one of the most amusing in
the English Drama, when well performed. Coventry is
a very ancient town, and was once the seat of empire,
but celebrated for little in modern times but its extensive
ribbon factories. The next morning I entered London
through Finsbury square. Having made myself ac-
quainted with " Thornton's History of London? before
I left home, every public building and place was familiar
to me. I was set down at the Swan with two pecks,
Lad Lane ; when, having first taken a nap, and break-
fasted, I went to the Carolina Coffee House, Burchen
Lane, Cornhill, where I met with half a dozen acquait-
ances whom I had known in Charleston. The popula-
tion of London then was little over a million ; it is now
over a million and a half. The object of my visit was
to purchase books for my establishment in Charleston,
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72 * REMINISCENCES OF THE
and to form correspondents, on whom I could depend for
future supplies. The season was far advanced ; I had
no time to lose ; a friend went with me to show me the
location of the eminent publishers ; I collected their cata-
logues, and having devoted the night to looking them
over, I fixed on Vernor <$• Hood's, as best calculated for
my purpose ; called on them ; showed them the bill I had
selected, and told them they must be bound and shipped
by that day fortnight, which was at once agreed to. I then
produced my bill on Baldero & Lushington, and stated
that that was all my funds, out of which I should want
a few guineas for pocket money. The bill had not been
presented ; Mr. Hood took it, and returning in a few
minutes, pronounced it as good as gold. At the end of
the stipulated fortnight, I was presented with my invoice
and a bill of lading. To my surprise, the invoice ex-
ceeded my funds by three hundred and fifty pounds.
What was to be done ? I had not brought a line of in-
troduction to any one, having early in life come to the
determination that a well lined pocket, with correct con-
duct, was the best introduction a young man could have;
it put him upon his own energies, if he had any, and if
he had none, introductory letters would jiot give him
any ; not but that there are times when they are useful.
The generous Scotchman (Mr. Hood,) entered in an in-
stant into my feelings, and said, "make yourself easy
about the balance; pay me -in six months is all I ask,
and if you will take a thousand pounds more upon the
same terms, they shall follow you in the next ship a
fortnight hence." This generous offer I promptly de-
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LA8T IIXTF-P^VB TEA*** W
dined. * The next morning I took leave of my friend
Hood and his amiable family, and left London for Charles-
ton, having been there just fifteen days, during which
period I had seen more of what was worth seeing, m
this modem Babylon, than many who had lived there for
years, and had "all appliances to boot;* it was ray
business, and I attended to it.
There is one trait in the character of our American
Indians, that Americans who travel might profit by;
that is, never to appear to be surprised. It has- proved
of advantage to me on more than one occasion. There
are hundreds of sharpers about London streets, who are
always on the look out for strangers, and having once
discovered them they seldom lose sight of them until they
have, at least, become acquainted with their pockets.
We had a long, rough passage to Charleston, marked
by no incident worth noting. When we arrived near the
city, we saw a ship with a signal for sailing, which our
pilot imformed me was bound for Liverpool. I instantly
determined to remit by that ship, and being placed on
shore, I hastened to Mr. Schutt, an eminent merchant,
who had always been my friend. It was not a business
of five minutes to procure from him a bill for five hun-
dred pounds, which, in thirty minutes more was on ks
way for Liverpool. It readied London in thirty-five
* I have had many opportunities since, of becoming acquainted with
the noble, generous confidence of British merchants, in their intercourse
with those of other countries, which has .put me entirely rat a loss to
account for the tremendous phillippic pronounced against them by
Burke, when speaking of them in the House of Dommows,ibe s*4d;w-
" Their counting-house is their church; their desk is their altar; their
ledger is their bible, and their moBey is their God."
VOL. L 1
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^74 • RJJMINISCfSNCEI OF THE
days, and was at my credit, overpaying the balance I
had left against me, a hundred and fifty pounds. This
xarcumstance gave me an unlimited credit forever after,
©ot only with Vernor & Hood, but through them,
throughout England and Scotland, from which I reaped
great benefit.
PETER FRENEAU.
Written September 22, 1838.
There have been hundreds of distinguished men who
have rendered the most essential services to their coun-
try at different times and. in different places, who have
been suffered to sink into the grave
" Unwept, unhonored and unsung,"
except perhaps by an obituary notice of a few lines,
which were probably no sooner read than forgotten. It
has often occurred to me, that if a portion of that talent
which is wasted, and worse than wasted, a great part of
the time, in party political abuse, in all our periodicals,
from the lowest to the highest, could be turned to the
rescuing from oblivion the names and services of public
benefactors, who have been permitted to sink into un-
honored graves, that it would not be the mere rendering
an act of justice, but would greatly redound to the
honor and character of our country, which, has suffered,
both abroad and at home, by the vile danders that have
been cast upon men of all parties, by men of all other
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parties differing from them in their political objects and
views.
With this view of the subject strongly impressed upon
toy mind, I shall proceed to give such reminiscences as
occur to me of a man, who, with talent fit for any station
in our country, was neither assuming nor ambitious : that
man was Peter Freneau, whose name I have placed
at the head of this article.
Mr. Freneau w^s a native of New Jersey, and brother
of Philip Freneau, a poet of the Revolution, whose revo-
lutionary and other poems were published in two volumes
soon after the peace. When I went to reside in Charles-
ton, in 1795, 1 found Mr. Freneau there editing and pub-
lishing the " City Gazette," in company with a Mr. Paine :
he (Freneau) had previously held the office of Secretary
of State. There were then but two papers in Charles-
ton, and but three in the State. Those in Charleston
were the above mentioned, and the " State Gazette" by
Timothy & Mason, then on its last legs.
Party politics ran high between 4he supporters of
Jefferson on the one hand, and John Adams on the other,
and Jay's treaty added fuel to the flame. Freneau^ with
his " City Gazette," sustained the republican party, and
ever after became identified with it; — he was himself a
host. The federalists were then in the ascendancy,
(Vanderhorst was Governor,) but they lost it at the next
election, and Freneau's Gazette received the patronage
of both the state and city governments, to which, when
Mr. Jefferson came into power, was added the general
government) and so continued until 1818 or 1890.
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Mr* Freneau bad, at an early period, established a
weekly paper called the " Carolina Gazette," which was
distinct from the daily * City Gazette," as a large portion
of its contents was written exclusively for it, and was not
seen by the readers of the daily paper. This paper,
under the editorial management of such a powerful
writer as Freneau, soon obtained a controlling influence
in the State, which continued and increased long after he
ceased to have any control over it It was in fact a com-
plete " political lever? and bore that cognomen among
those who knew, or felt its power.
Mr. Freneau's style of writing combined the beauty
and smoothness of Addison, with the strength and sim-
plicity of Gobbett, add to which he composed with the
greatest ease and facility, seldom making an erasure.—
His knowledge of languages was very extensive 5 he had
obtained a sufficiency of the Hebrew to read the Old
Testament in the original, and of the Greek, to read the
New. His Latin was said to be good — but what he
took most delight in, was the living languages. His
translations of the French, Spanish, Portuguese and Ital-
ian were all good, but his French was unequalled. As
proof of it, Napoleon pronounced his (Freneau's) trans-
lations of his bulletins to be the only correct ones — of
which fact, Berthier, minister of war, informed Baron
Pourcroy, the French consul general at Charleston, who
regularly sent the translations to Paris. When I suc-
ceeded Freneau, in the Gazette, he continued his transla-
tions for it till his death.
He would sometimes entertain his friends by reacting
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 77
to them in English, from the famous Paris edition of Voir
taire's plays. He was an admirable reader, and it was a
great treat — yet with this perfect knowledge of the
French, he could not speak it so as to be distinctly under-
stood. His reading was, very extensive — he had no
family but his servants, and after he sold out the Gazette, (
which was about four years before his death, he devoted
by far the larger portion of his time to books, no sooner
entering his house than he was seated with one in hi^
hand. Voltaire, Gibbon, Hume, Robertson, Smollet,
Cervantes, Quivedo and Le Sage, were his favoritq
authors.
Mr. Frene^u could never say #o ; that is, when asked
for money, or favors — if he had the former he gave it —
if the latter was in his power, he granted it. A4d tq
which, he never was $ business man, and what made it still
worse, his last partner (for he had a number at different
times,) was not a man of any business tact whatever. It
is not therefore, to be wondejred at, that his monetary af-
fairs, which hacTbeen very flourishing during his conneo,
tion with Paine 5 and afterwards with David R. Williamsf
became deeply involved, so that when I purchased the
Gazette establishment from him, on the first of January,
1810, it would have been a difficult matter to decide
which was in the most complete confusion, his private
affairs, or the afiairs of the establishment generally. Of
the latter, some idea may be formed, when I state the
fact, that there were printed upwards of two hundred
papers daily more than were wanted to supply the then
demand, which were made way with by the slaves who
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78 REMINISCENCES OF THE
worked in the office, unknown to their masters. He had
been several times a member of the legislature ; where
his services were alike creditable to himself and useful to
the State, through which his influence extended and was
felt. He had no enemies, but many warm hearted
friends, who never suffered a difference in politics to sepa-
rate them from him.
Mr. Jefferson was greatly attached to him and kept up
a correspondence with him, some of which he read to me.
He also appointed him Commissioner of the Loan Office
for South Carolina, with a nett salary of two thousand
dollars per annum. The office was little less than a sine-
cure ; the business of it being done by a clerk for three
or four hundred dollars. Still the goodness of his heart
had involved him to such an extent in securityships, par-
ticularly one or two heavy ones, (that he had suffered
greatly by) that he could not redeem himself) and after
Mr. Madison came into power, circumstances made it
necessary that he should resign the office he held. Still,
amidst all his difficulties, that cheerfulness of temper
which had marked his whole life, and made his society
courted, did not forsake him. The trial of his strength
was yet to come. It came : — An old and dear friend
Was an endorser on his paper — he became alarmed lest
that friend should saffer on his account — his cheerfulness
at once forsook him. One day, only a few minutes before
the bank would close, he called on another friend, whom he
knew he could depend on, and told him that his note for
fifteen hundred dollars would go to protest that day, un-
less this friend could lend him the money to take it up.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVB TEARS. 79
His friend had it not, and could not possibly procure it
before the bank would shut ; but promised to assist him
in taking it up the next morning, and at the same time
invited him home to dinner* This he refused, in a man-
ner which particularly excited the attention of this friend,
with whom he had dined every Sunday for several years,
and once or twice in the week beside. Freneau went
home : his friend, apprehensive of something serious, ate
a few mouthfuls of dinner and followed him. He found
him writing, and four folded notes already written were
lying in a heap upon the table, the upper one of which
was directed to this very friend. In a moment Freneatfs
intention flashed upon his mind. Without opening the
note that was before him, he said, " Freneau, give me
your word of honor, that I shall find you here an hour
hence. I am going to the notary." He looked up in his
friend's face with a look which showed, how, even a
mighty mind could be shaken, and overcome by the tem-
pest of adversity ; he gave the required pledge. His
friend hastened to the notary, whom he found just mount-
ing his horse to give notice to the indorser. The parties
knew each other. The friend pledged himself that if he
would not proceed, the note should be taken up as soon
as the bank opened next morning. This was at once
agreed to, and he hastened back to Freneau, who, in his
absence, had destroyed the notes, and in some slight de-
gree regained his cheerfulness.
His friend staid with him until late in the evening,
carefully avoiding all allusion to what had happened,
merely remarking, at parting, that every thing would be
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80 REMINISCENCES OF THE
satisfactorily arranged in the morning ; when that arrived,
the friend went and procured the money, which he gave
to Freneau, who took up his note, and became in a few
days, restored to his usual cheerfulness, without its hav-
ing been known to but two or three, the precipice from
which he had been rescued. He lived to be the delight
of his friends for two or three years after*
His knowledge was universal; his conversational
powers great ; but so little was he aware that he po&*
sessed those powers, in such an eminent degree, that he
communicated the most interesting truths, and in a man*
ner the most agreeable, as if he was not sensible that he
was saying any thing not already known to all who were
listening to him.
His manners were popular in the extreme, and he need
only to have sought, to have obtained any office in the
gift of the people of the State, but he was devoid of all
ambition for any thing of the kind. The latter part
of his life was devoted to a few friends and his books.
He was fond of retirement, and that he might enjoy it in
the greatest perfection, he commenced building a cottage
in the interior of the State, where it was his intention to
retire for the remainder of his days, little thinking that
the means he was thus taking to prolong them in peace
and quietness, would so soon cause their end.
It is not safe, or prudent, for citizens of Charleston to
visit the country, further than they can return the same
day, from the beginning of July till the autumnal frosts
which generally commence early in November. Mr.
Freneau was anxious to yisit his workmen, and see the
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 81
progress of his cottage ; all that his friends could say to
him against so imprudent and then unnecessary a step, he
could not be dissuaded from it He went ; was absent
eight or ten days, and returned apparently in perfect
health, with, his usual flow of spirits ; but he had inhaled
the fatal miasma, although it did not appear in disease, as
is frequently the case, for upwards of a week after his
return, when the well known symptoms made their ap-
pearance with such violence as left little hope for his
friends from the beginning. He had the best medical
attendance, and some of those friends that were most
endeared to him, were ever by his bedside. A young lady,
the daughter of one of his oldest friends, devoted herself to
him with such assiduity, that it was with difficulty she
could be prevailed upon to leave him long enough to take
her necessary rest and refreshment I had been watch-
ing over him all night, and the physician in attendance
seeitfg no signs of immediate dissolution, I retired to take
some refreshment In about an hour I was sent for, and
when I got there, found that the hand of death was upon
him — he never spoke after. It was the fifth day of his
illness, and although he had scarcely ever known sick-
ness before, his strong constitution was so completely ex-
hausted by its violence, that for some time before the vital
spark had fled, he made not a move or a groan. Thus
ended, in his fifty-seventh year, in October, 1814, the life
of a man, who to transcendant talents united that amia-
bility of temper and benevoleqce of heart that made him
the friend of all his race.
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82 REMINISCENCES OP THE
% This, all who knew him know,
This, all who loved him tell.
But we have not done with him. In person Mr. Fre-
neau was six feet two inches in height, and of such pro-
portions that it seemed as if " every god had set his seal
to give the world assurance of a man." Except in height,
he was the very counterpart of the great English States-
man, Charles James Fox ; the heads of no two men were
ever more alike, whether in reference to their contents or
outside appearance. Their voices ; their conversational
powers; their manners were so exactly alike, that when
in conversation with the one, it required no stretch of
fency to bring the other to your remembrance ; he came
without being called.
In London, in 1803, 1 bought a miniature bust of Mr.
Fox, a most admirable likeness, which I took to Charles-
ton and placed over my mantle. All who saw it ex-
claimed in a moment, " Where did you get that bust of
Freneau V and well they might, for it was as like the one
as the other.
Mr. Freneau had had an extensive correspondence
with many of the first men of our nation,' which, with
other valuable manuscripts, although I had the sole direc-
tion of his ftweral, which was largely attended, I never
knew what became of them : for his creditors, who had
never pushed him in life, had the sheriff in his house
before his remains were carried out of it : and I have
recently learned that not a stone, nor even a stick, points
out the spot where he rests! Yet we are told that
republics are not ungrateful. In making these slight noti-
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LA8T SIXTY-FIVE. TEARS. 83
ces to his memory, I feel thai I am performing an act of
gratitude to one u whose like we ntfer shall look upon
again."
GENERAL ROBERT Y. HAYNE
Written Jalj 8, 1840.
Was born in South Carolina, on the 10th of November,
1791, and having first received a good school education,
in the city of Charleston, at about the age of seventeen,
he commenced reading law with Langdon Cheves, Esq.,
and before he was quite twenty-one, was admitted to the
bar ; when, Mr. Cheves being called into public life, he
transferred his great and lucrative practice to Mr. Hayne>
who at once found himself involved in a practice as great,
or greater, than any other gentleman at the bar. He
was young and diffident ; but whatever untiring industry
and close application could perform, he felt confident that
it was in him to accomplish. His mind now began to
expand, and in proportion to that expansion, his want of
confidence wore off, and he took rank among the first of
his profession, at an age when very few have even gained
an admission to it It was just before he was of age,
that I addressed a note to him one day, inviting him to
become a candidate for the Legislature, the election being
then near at hand. His reply was expressed in terms of
the greatest gratitude for my friendly feelings towards
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84 BXMI1U8C&NCXS 09 THE
him, which I had always felt, and then strongly expresed,
and regretted he was not of an age to become a candi-
date. I had watched him from childhood, and saw the
opening blossoms of a parent's hope expanding as his
youth advanced. The seeds of goodness and greatness
which were sown in him at his birth, grew with his
growth and strengthened with his strength, and young
though he was when he left us, his country had reaped
the harvest in a well-spent life, which had been devoted
to her interest, as he conscientiously believed, and if at
any time he was mistaken in that belief, it was the mis-
take of an honest man and a christian, who had devoted
his sotd to his God and his life to his country.
In September, 1814, 1 again called upon him to betome
a candidate. There was no longer any impediment, and
he was elected by an overwhelming vote ahead of all
others on the ticket He had served but two terms when
he was elected Speaker of the House. The term for
which he was elected to this high office had not expired,
when the two Houses elected him Attorney General of
the State, in which office he continued until 1823, when
he was elected to the Senate of the United States,
although thefc bdt thirty-two years of age ! Here his greaft
mind had its full scope, and his! amiaWe disposition, with
his unequalled suavity of manners, alike secured to him
the respect and esteem of all. From my knowledge of
him through life, I have no hesitation in saying, that the
man who knew and did not respect Robert Y. Hayne,
had a heart and feelings not to be envied.
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In December 1832, he was elected Governor of the
State, a situation, as things then stood, in which he had
every thing to fear and nothing to hope.
"As Governor of the State, Mr. Hayne was very soon
called upon to act. The proclamation of the President,
issued on the 10th of December, in relation to the pro-
ceedings of South Carolina, reached Columbia in a very
few days, and was met by a counter proclamation from
Gov. Hayne, expressed in terms of lofty defiance, on the
20th of the same month. The warlike aspect of these
two documents, exhibiting on the one hand, a determina-
tion to put down South Carolina by force, and on the
other, a resolution to resist unto death, very naturally
excited an alarm for the safety of the Union, in all parts
of the United States, which pre-disposed a majority of the
people in favor of conciliatory measures. In South Car-
olina, preparations of the most vigorous and efficient
kind, were every where made for the defence of the State,
and in these arrangements, the Governor took an active
and conspicuous part. The proceedings which took
place in Congress, on the 2d of March, 1833, are too well
known to need a recapitulation here. Suffice it to say,
that the simultaneous passage of a bill modifying the
tariff, and of one designed to enforce the collection of the
revenue, put an end to the apprehensions of an approach-
ing conflict between the Federal Government and the
State of South Carolina, which induced the Convention,
on the 15th of March, to enact an ordinance, repealing
the previous one of the 24th of November. Of this
Convention, Gen. Hayne was elected President at its
vol i. s
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86 REMINISCENCES OF THE
second session, which commenced on the 11th of March,
and closed on the 18th ; Gen. Hamilton having previ-
ously resigned.
" From this memorable epoch until the month of De-
cember, 1834, Gov. Hayne continued in the Executive
chair, though not without having subjects of exciting
interest to demand his solicitude. The spirit of party in
South Carolina, had not been appeased by the settlement
of the dispute with the Government at Washington. —
The predominant party were desirous of enforcing obe-
dience to the State, in all future conflicts, by demanding an
oath of allegiance, whilst the minority threatened resist-
ance to any law which should be designed to exact it. —
In casting oil upon these troubled waters, Gov. Hayne
was mainly instrumental, by putting forth a proclamation
enjoining obedience to the decision of the Court of Ap-
peals, which pronounced unconstitutional a military oath
enjoined by the Legislature, in opposition to the decided
opinion entertained by the party in power. Perhaps to
this wise and prudent course of the Governor, may be
traced that gradual relaxation of the spirit that urged the
enforcement of an oath of allegiance, which subsequently
terminated in the reconciliation of the two parties in the
Legislature, commemorated by the almost unanimous
election of Mr. McDuffie as Governor of the State, and
the abandonment of the bill designed to exact an oath of
allegiance."
On the fourth of July, 1836, he was elected President
of the great Railroad Convention, then assembled at
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LAST 81XTY-PIVB TEARS. 87
Knoxville, Tennessee, consisting of four hundred mem-
bers, whose deliberations he presided over for five days,
with ease, dignity, and a great despatch of business. On
the organization of the Railroad Company, he was elected
a Director, and immediately after, by the unanimous vote
of the board, he was elected President, and continued in
that high station to his death, which happened at Ash-
ville, North Carolina, on the 24th of September, 1839, in
the forty-eighth year of his age. To this, my great en-
terprise, his death has put a stop, at least for many years
to come, but it must and will be accomplished.
General Hayne had very extensive connexions, many ^
of whom looked up to him for aid, and never looked in
vain.
The great leading trait, in the character of this great man,
has been overlooked : it was the wonderful talent of con-
trolling the actions of others, unfelt and unseen. They
knew not the eye that directed, nor the hand that led them,
but felt and followed the unseen guide, as if it were an
act of their own volition. His death has made a chasm
in South Carolina which they have no man to fill ; there
is no treading in his footsteps — not but what they have
the talent, but the people have not the confidence. No
man was ever so mourned in that State before ; it was
not the unequalled pageant that spoke their griefs, but it
was the pouring out of their hearts upon the grave of their
great and good friend, that told their tale of woe.
For myself, I lost in him a long and tried friend, who
was near and dear to me ; but as he was gathered to his
fathers full of honors, and in the midst of his fame, he
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88 REMINISCENCES OF THE
died as the great should ever wish to die. Let us not
be deceived ; it is for ourselves we mourn, and not for
him.
Of his numerous letters to me, there are none that
speak the great interest he took in the promotion of the
great enterprise over which he presided, more fully than
the following, which was written fourteen months before
his death.
Charleston, July 21, 1838.
Dear Sir — I yesterday received your, letter of the
6th inst., and am gratified at the lively and continued
interest which you take in the fortunes of Charleston,
The late conflagration, destructive as it has been, has
gerved to call forth the energies of the people, both of
the city and state. Indeed, such has been the impulse
given to the public mind here, within the last few years —
such is the spirit of enterprise exerted, especially by the
prospect opened to us of extending our connections by a
direct trade to Europe, and by railroads to the West —
that nothing seems even to dishearten us. Our burnt dis-
trict, even at this season of the year, is covered with work-
shops ; brick buildings are going up in every direction ;
and in a very short time, not a vestige of our late loss
will remain. Be assured that Charleston is destined to
arise like a Phoenix from her ashes, in unrivalled strength
and beauty ; and be assured, also, that with due encour-
agement from our Western brethren, we shall never
stop short of connecting ourselves, by railroads, with the
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 89
m
navigable waters of the West, and at as many points as
may be fairly thrown open to us.
We fear no competition from other cities on the At-
lantic coast. In the vast trade which will be poured
from the fertile and populous regions of the West, into
the " broad Atlantic," there will be enough for us all.
Gen. Bernard, in one of his reports, laments that there
were so few practicable routes for railroads and canals
across the Alleghenies; that in process of time they would
all be found inadequate to the wants of commerce. Our
passage across the mountains, (through the valley of the
French Broad river,) is the shortest and best yet discov^
ered. We shall probably effect it without a single in-
clined plane, by concurring elevations not exceeding 1200
feet ; and from the summit of the mountains, westward,
we have almost a level plait* to Knoxville, the head of
steamboat navigation on the Tennessee.
The aid of Kentucky, if extended to us, will certainly
continue the road to Lexington ; and from thence, all the
proposed lines to the Ohio will sooner or later be filled
up. So that we may look forward, with good hope, to
a " consummation so devoutly to be wished."
It was necessarily our first step, to push on from the
ocean; and here, finding a road ready made to our
hands, we have availed ourselves of it for sixty-two miles
of our way. From this point, (Branchville, on the
Charleston and Hamburg road,) we have laid out the
road to Columbia, about sixty-five miles ; have made all
the contracts, and are proceeding rapidly. In the mean
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90 REMINISCENCES OF THE
time, Gen. Hamilton has gone to Europe, to effect a loan
of $2,000,000 for our company, on the credit of the state
of South Carolina.
We hope to put the " South Western Railroad Bank"
hi operation early in the winter. This institution —
especially should Kentucky concur in the charter — will,
under successful management, make the road ; and I
hope you may live to see the realization of all your long
cherished hopes on this subject.
We have a meeting of the general board of directors,
at Lexington, on the fourth Monday in August, and of
the stockholders, at Ashville, (N. C.) on the 17th of Sep-
tember. I shall, in my route, examine the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad, and take Cincinnati in my way to
Lexington, to view the wonders of western industry,
and to exchange views with you and other friends to the
great cause of public improvement. I hope you Will be
at home about the 20th of August, when I expect to be
in Cincinnati.
With great respect and esteem,
I am very truly yours,
E. S. Thomas, Esq. ROBERT Y. HAYNE.
His last letter to me was written a month after the
preceding one, and is as follows :
Ohio River, (near Maygville,) August ?4, 1838.
My dear sir — The low state of the river, and our
being compelled to stop at nights, have so delayed our
progress, that I am compelled to forego the pleasure of
visiting Cincinnati at this time. Indeed, without landing
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 91
at Maysville, and p y oceeding on immediately to Lexing-
ton, I cannot reach there in time to attend the meeting
to be held on Monday next. If, on getting through with
my business there, I should find that I have time to visit
your city, and fulfil my engagement at Ashville, (N. C^
on the 1 7th of September, I shall return from Lexington
to Cincinnati. Had I been acquainted with the difficul-
ties of the navigation at this season of the year, I should
have endeavored to have anticipated my journey by a
few days, so as to have provided against delays. I
should be extremely reluctant, after having travelled thus
far, to be compelled to return without seeing the "queen
city of the West," and still hope that I may have that
pleasure.
I am very respectfully and
Truly yours,
E. S. Thomas, Esq. ROBERT Y. HAYNE.
One week after the date of this letter, the General and
his party arrived in Cincinnati, from Lexington. It was
on the eve of the first of September. I Was in a very
feeble state of health, and after waiting his arrival until
eight o'clock, I was compelled to retire, having first ad-
dressed a note to him. Feeble as I was, I waited upon
him early in the morning, when, to my astonishment, he
presented to me seven other gentlemen — all old friends,
or the sons of old friends. He had written to me three
times in the course of his journey, and I asked him why
he had not mentioned those gentlemen. The answer
was, it was his intention agreeably to surprise me, and he
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92 REMINISCENCES OF THE
hoped he had succeeded. He had, indeed : the agreeable
surprise, added t<^a favorable change in the weather,
went far to restore me to health. They spent
A DAY IN CINCINNATI :
Which is beautifully and graphically described in the
following letter, from the pen of Richard Yeadon, jr. Esq.,
the talented editor of the Charleston Courier, who was
one of the party.
Sulphur Springs, N. C, September 17.
On the 31st ult., the second day after the barbecue, our
southern party left Lexington in the stage for Cincinnati,
distant about eighty-two miles, at one o'clock in the morn-
ing. It was with regret that we were compelled to
travel twelve miles in the night time, to Georgetown, a
thriving place with some 3000 inhabitants, as we were
told that in the intervening space we passed over one of
the finest and most highly cultivated parts of Kentucky.
Beyond Georgetown, our route lay for a considerable
distance over a succession of steep and rocky elevations,
called the Eagle Hills, forming one of the worst stage
roads I ever encountered. On the way, an old and de-
serted church was pointed out to us, having the reputa-
tion of being haunted, the door, which was ajar when we
passed, bqjpg said to assume that position of its own ac.
cord, in despite of all efforts to keep it shut. Further on
we came to a haunted dell, said to be perambulated by
the headless form of a murdered traveller. Superstition,
you perceive, has its abiding places, even in the western
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wilds. At Williamstown, civilities were tendered us by
the citizens and lawyers of the village, (it being court
time,) and refreshments were voluntarily handed us, by
the landlord of the inn, where the stage stopped for**
change of horses, for which he refused compensations
When we arrived at the fine farm and residence of Mr.
A. W. Gaines, the stage contractor, about twenty miles
from Cincinnati, we were invited to partake of a hand-
some dinner, most hospitably and unexpectedly prepared
for us, by that very courteous and pleasant gentleman.
Not long after we left the house of Mr, Gaines, the
stage-driver, by driving furiously and carelessly down a
hill, and the striking of one of the wheels of the stage
against an obstacle in the road, got thrown from his seat,
and the horses took off with us in an uncontrolled gallop
for about half a mile. At one moment we were in immi-
nent danger of an upset, from a pile of rails, lying in the
road ; but the horses made a slight deviation, just barely
in time to pass in safety. One of our companions (Col.
Mills,) and two other passengers, who were outside with
the driver, leaped from their seats, the first named with a
slight bruise on the knee, the others without injury. The
rest of us kept our seats steadily within the stage, and oftr
perilous career was ultimately arrested without further
injury, by the turning of one of our leading horses, in a
spirit of companionship, by the side of a nag, hitched to a
fence, near a set of block steps by the way side, and the
stopping of the other by a negro boy, who rushed to our
aid from the adjacent house. The most serious injury
sustained from this accident, was a severe sprain of the
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94 REMINISCENCES OF THE
driver's ancle, a merited punishment for his rashness and
folly.
Having repaired the slight damage to our harness, we
proceeded on our journey, and, from Florence, rolled
swiftly over a fine Mackadamized road, and through a
wild and romantic country, as it -seemed by moonlight,
some ten or fifteen miles, to Covington, on the Kentucky
side of the Ohio. A ferry boat then took us immediately
across the river, the broad surface of which was illumin-
ated with the silver light of the moon, and between nine
and ten o'clock P. M. we were safely disposed of in the
Broadway Hotel, an extensive and well conducted estab-
lishment in Cincinnati.
We performed our journey in company with, and under
the auspices of Gen. James Taylor, a director of the
great Railroad, and one of the wealthiest citizens of
Kentucky, who 'resides at Newport, another Kentucky
town, immediately opposite to Cincinnati. To this ex-
cellent and kind hearted gentleman, we were indebted for
every species of attention and hospitality. He did every
thing in his power to render our journey pleasant and
comfortable, and never left us until he saw us lodged in
our hotel, when he recrossed the river, to pass the night
at his residence in Newport.
Although in his seventieth year, he is yet a jovial com-
panion, full of animation, anecdote and song. Born a
Virginian, he was an early settler in the West, and has
lived to see the wilderness he first inhabited, teem with
population and industry, and rejoice and blossom as the
rose. His life has been one of much interest and adven-
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LAST SIXTY -FIVE YEARS. 95
ture. During the war with Great Britain, he served hon-
orably as an officer in the American army ; and he often
relates, with patriotic and soldierly indignation, the un-
fortunate chance which placed him among those gallant
fellows, who, against their earnest remonstrances and en-
treaties, were surrendered to the British, in an early stage
of the war, by the cowardly Hull.
General Taylor is also one of the most active and
zealous friends of the great Railroad. In addition to his
subscription, and the troublesome duties of the director-
ship, he has offered the company a free passage through his
lands, and other valuable privileges, should the road ever
find its desired terminus in the queen city of the West.
The morning after our arrival in Cincinnati was spent
partly in receiving the complimentary visits and cordial
welcome of the citizens, among whom was General Har*
rison, the distinguished hero of Tippecanoe and the
Thames, and the Ohio candidate for the presidency, who
was temporally staying at our hotel. We then proceed-
ed, under the auspices of Gen. Taylor, who had provided
several carriages for the occasion, to ride about the city,
and see as much as we could of it, in the short period we
had to spare. The fine private residences and put^c
buildings, and the general appearance of bustle, industry,
and prosperity, filled us with admiration as we passed
through the spacious streets of the beautiful and queenly
city. In the course of the morning we visited Mr. Bon-
sall, where refreshments were hospitably offered, and the
party took a view of the city from the cupola of his
handsome mansion.
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96 ^REMINISCENCES OP THB
The vast pork houses, wfceye myriads of hogs are an-
nually slaughtered, and three said to be killed and cleaned
in a minute, claimed our attention ; but our visit was
timed during what may be termed the summer recess or
vacation, and when the activity of trade bad scarcely en-
abled the proprietors to save any portion of their bacon
for our inspection.
A walk through the splendid garden of Mr. Long-
worth, (one of the greatest land-proprietors in Cincin-
nati,) adorned with native and exotic beauty, made us
acquainted with one of the most elegant specimens of
this branch of the fine arts we had ever witnessed. Mr.
L. was not at home when we called, but he afterwards
found opportunity to pay us civilities in person, and the
next day sent us two bottles of wine, manufactured by
him, from grapes of his own vineyard — a bottle of white,
and a bottle of brown hock, the latter an excellent wine,
of fine flavor. His son, and son-in-law did the honors of
his mansion and grounds in his absence.
We visited also the spot where those floating palaces
are built which swarm the waters of the Ohio, laden with
the treasures of Western produce and merchandise, and
tHfe yet more precious frieght of countless human lives ;
and hard by lay the wreck of the Moselle, associated with
as sad, and as harrowing a legend, as the ill-fated Pulaski.
At one o'clock, P. M., we went, by appointment, to
the workshop of Mr. McGrew, a highly respectable, in-
telligent, and ingenious mechanic and machinist, who ex-
hibited to us some interesting inventions and experiments
connected with rail road science. He showed us his
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LAST SIXTY-IIVE TBA^S.I 97
machinery for propelling rail cars, by means of the con- ,
densation or compressive of common air. In his opinion,
stationary reservoirs of compressed air may be establish-
ed at intervals of fifteen miles, with the requisite power
of propulsion. It is very problematical, however, whether
this process, which has much engaged the attention of
philosophers and ingenious men, and which ceteris pa-
ribus would be infinitely preferable to steam, can ever be
practically applied.
Another invention which this gentleman exhibited to
us, and which seems more practical in its character, con-
sists in such a construction of the rail, and a correspond-
ing apparatus to the car, as to render it impossible for
the latter to run off the former. In the model shown us,
the rail is furnished with an upper and inward flange, and
the car with a pair of horizontal wheels in front, having'
grooves, of which the flange of the rail forms the tongue.
The wheels are so constructed and placed, that no portion
of the weight of the car presses on them, and they are,
therefore, subject to little or no friction. Similar hind
wheels may be added. The effect of this invention is to
confine the car to the road, even when passing along the
sharpest curves, and consequently to increase the safely
and speed, and lessen the expense of construction. We
here closed our morning's tour, and returned to our hotel
to dinner, at which General Harrison and Dr. Warder,
a gentleman who paid us many attentions, joined our
party.
After dinner, according to previous arrangement, we
commenced a lour to avail ourselves of various proffered
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hospitalities ; and never be(pre, I verily believe, were so
.many and such kindly ones compressed within so small a
period. We were literally in danger of being killed with
kindness, and had no little difficulty in eating and drinking
our way through in safety and sobriety.
Our first visit was to Mr. Casey, at Covington, another
df the Kentucky directors of the Railroad, where our hoa-
pitable but perilous ordeal commenced, in the shape of
tempting wines and viands.
' We next proceeded to the residence of the Hon. W. W.
Southgate, member of congress from that part of Ken-
tucky, where we were entertained in the like handsome
manner.
Crossing over to Newport, about five o'clock, P. M .,
we went to Gen. Taylor's, where we found a large party
assembled, and a most elegant and sumptuous repast,
teeming with all the substantial and luxuries of the feast,
served up for our reception and welcome. The Gene-
ral's residence is truly an elegant one ; placed on a beau*
tiful and commanding site, and set off with ornamental
grounds, in a manner creditable to the taste of the pro-
prietor. Here we passed upwards of an hour, enjoying
the social as well as the festive banquet ; the General, his
*on, and son-in-law, lavishing on us their hospitable atten-
tions, and the whole company contributing to the flow of
fioul. Just previous to returning, General Hayne, in re*
sponse to a complimentary sentiment, made a brief but
warm and eloquent acknowledgment on behalf of himself
and his party, of the generous hospitalities of the cities of
Covington and Newport
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. M
We then re-crossed the Ohio, and between s : x and
seven o'clock, P^ M., proceeded to the house of E. S*
Thomas, one of the veterans and patriarchs of the Amer-
ican press, formerly editor of the Charleston City Gazette,
but now of the Cincinnati Evening Post Here again
we encountered the perils of a liberally dispensed hospi-
tality ; our host, his son, Mr. P. W. Thomas, favorably
known to literature as the author of "Clinton Bradshaw,"
and " East and West," and his fair and agreeable daugh-
ters, uniting, in courteous attention to their guests, and
contributing, by kindness and social converse, to wing
with pleasure the flight of time.
The old gentleman seemed literally to overflow with
delight, and grew young again in the reminiscences
of former days ; and, by the way, a highly interesting se-
ries of these reminiscences has already been given to the
world through the columns of his paper, and he has hoards
of equal richness to produce from his well stored and re-
tentive memory. He was personally acquainted with
the distinguished head of our party, and with the fathers
of others of us he had held friendly intercourse in by-gone
days.
To Charleston, and his residence there, he recurs with
marked fondness — they are green in his recollection, and
entwined with his affections — and his daughters, too,
share the paternal feeling, and claim with pride, Charles-
ton as their birth-place, although removal in early child-
hood has left on their memory scarcely a single trace of
the queen city of the South ; and his sons, too, own the
kindly infection. The next day, the warm hearted old
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•
gentleman gave us, at parting, a. letter of introduction to
another son, who edits the Daily Herald in Louisville
concluding with this characteristic injunction, which was
finely obeyed, " they are your father's friends, treat them
accordingly." He is quite an enthusiast on the subject
of the great Railroad, and claims its paternity, on the
ground of having been the first to conceive the project of
commercial connection between the queen cities of the
South and West
About eight o'clock, P. M., our " last, not least" visit
was paid to Dr. Daniel Drake, a distinguished physician
and influential citizen of Cincinnati, at whose house we
were again hospitably entertained, and treated with the
feast of reason and the flow of soul. Here a large num-
ber of citizens, comprising much bf the worth and intelli-
gence of the place, was assembled to receive us. In the
assemblage was Judge McLean of the Supreme Court of
the United States, in form a noble model of our species,
and possessed of a fine address and suavity of manner,
and Judge Hall, formerly the celebrated editor of the
Western Review, and author of" Letters from the West,
and Western Sketches," and numerous other literary and
distinguished men. On entering, we had observed rather
an unsightly stump in our host's reception room, but it
soon became manifest that there was both humor and
design in it. The Doctor had resolved on both giving
and getting a stump speech, and had therefore providently
supplied himself with the stump of the Buck Eye tree —
a tree from which Ohio derives the name of" the Buck
Eye State." In the course of the evening the Doctor
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Last sixwy-five teari. 101
regularly mounted the stump, and delivered an address,
and with much humor and tact contrived to place Gene*
ral Hayne as his successor on the Buck Eye Rostrum,
and to draw from him an admirable epitome of the Bar*
fcacue Speech, demonstrating the practicability and ad-
vantages of the great enterprise, which promises the
commercial and social union of the South and West-
After General Hayne had finished speaking, Dr. Drake
again mounted the stump and gave —
" The Charleston and Cincinnati Bar. — May they
soon exchange work."
He offered this sentiment with a view to draw a speech
from some member of the South Carolina bar, but a cry
soon arose that Mr. John C. Vaughn, formerly of Cam-
den, South Carolina, but now of Cincinnati, was the pro-
per person to respond to the toast, as he was a member
of both the South Carolina and Cincinnati bars. Mr.
Vaughn accordingly took the stump, and after a brief but
felicitous address, gave the following very appropriate
toast —
" May the Palmetto be soon engrafted, by means of
the Railroad, on the Buck Eye Stump."
Other toasts were given on the occasion, and the fol-
lowing was Col. Elmore's —
" Tlie South and the West — May they make mutual
assaults on the mountain barrier, which separates them,
until it yields them a free passage."
Soon after, the company dispersed, delighted with die
social harmony of the evening ; and we retired to our
hotel, sober, although in any thing but " sober sadness*
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102 REMIK4SCENCE* OF THB
t
to dream of the enjoyments we had experienced, and the
dangers we had passed.
The people of Cincinnati, so far as we could judge
from our association with them, are as enthusiastic in
favor of the Railroad, as those of Lexington. The Queen
of the West invited the Q,ueen of the South to the alli-
ance of friendship and interest — and the former stands
ready to redeem the pledge implied in her invitation,
whenever Kentucky will do her part towards the noble
enterprise, which courts her co-operation, and thereby
enable Cincinnati to prove her sincerity.
We all regretted that our engagements and obligations
denied us the power of passing but a day in so fine a city
and with such a kindly people — but it was with us
* either one day or none," and we cheerfully encountered
the fatigue of travel to obtain a sight of the Queen City
of the West, and enjoy the pleasures of a single day, in
her hospitable bosom. And amply were we compensa-
ted, by both pleasure and people — and on our departure
we carried with us the deepest and most lively impres-
sions of kindness bestowed by a stranger people, and
left behind us our most heart-felt wishes for their con-
tinued prosperity and happiness.
I cannot close this letter without expressing my deep
sense of attentions received from my brethren of the
press in every quarter — among whom, were Mr. McKee,
of the Lexington Observer, Mr. Bryant, of the Lexing-
ton Intelligencer, Mr. E. S. Thomas, of the Cincinnati
Evening Post, Mr. Conover, of the Cincinnati Whig,
who formerly edited a paper in the interior of South Car-
olina, and Mr. Thomas, of the Louisville Daily Herald.
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LAST SIXfy-FlVE |EiR8. 103
*
WILLIAM LOWNDES.
Written Jojy 10, 1840.
It often happens that men pre-eminent for talent, and
for the possession and exercise of every manly and social
virtue, sink into their graves with scarcely a passing no-
tice. The fate of the great and good man, whose name
heads this article, is, incomparably, the most striking in-
stance I ever knew of the kind.
William Lowndes, was the third son of Rawlins
Lowndes, by Sarah, his third wife, and was born in
Charleston, S. C, February 7, seventeen hundred eighty-
two. He went with his mother to England, at the age
of seven years, where he had the benefit of the English
Grammar Schools for three years, and then returned
with his mother to Charleston, and commenced a classi-
cal education with the Rev. Dr. Simon Felix Gallagher,
of the Roman Catholic Church, a man alike renowned
for great learning, and the happy talent of communica-
ting it to others ; who once said, speaking of Lowndes,
when a student, that " his mind drank up knowledge, as
the dry earth did the rain from Heaven." Under the
tuition of this eminent teacher, he continued until he en-
tered the office of that distinguished lawyer, and jurist,
the late venerable Chancellor DesSaussure, to study law.
In September, eighteen hundred and two, he married
Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Major General Thomas
Pinckney.
In eighteen hundred and four he made overtures to
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104 REMIIilSCENCffS OF THE
John S. Cogdell, Esq., (who was just rising into notice
at the bar, having then, recently, been appointed City
Attorney, the first appointment that was made to that
office,) to join him in the practice of the law, to which
Mr. Cogdell readily assented, until Mr. Lowndes, in the
most delicate manner possible, gave him to understand
that he would not receive any portion of the income of
the office, that his object was, to serve Mr. C. — to this
the pure and high minded Cogdell, promptly refused to
assent, and would hear to no terms, but a perfect equali-
ty. Mr. Lowndes yielded to his wishes, and they com-
menced practice together under the firm of Cogd£fl &
Lowndes. This was in March, 1804. The last week
in September, or the first in October, the same year,
there was a very destructive storm, which did much
damage to the plantations, and Mr. Lowndes, whose
planting interest was extensive, suffered severely, so
much so, as to make his permanent residence in the
country necessary for some time. He took leave of Mr.
Cogdell and the office, remarking, that " he feared he had
not been of much service to him." Their friendship con-
tinued unchangeable to Mr. Lowndes' death. Mr. Cog-
dell still lives, in the full enjoyment of health, vigor, and
usefulness, as the President of the " South Carolina Bank.*
There are few better men, or more useful citizens, any
where.
In 1806, Mr. Lowndes was elected to the Le-
gislature of his native State, in which he served two,
or three, terms, of two years each. It was there that the
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 105
great powers of his clear, Ciceronian mind, so conspicu-
ous in all his after life, first began to display themselves
in all their wisdom and beauty.
In October, eighteen hundred and ten, he was elected
to the eleventh Congress, from Beaufort District, and
continued in Congress until eighteen hundred and twen-
ty-two, when the want of health compelled him to resign
his seat in that body. When there, he spoke compara-
tively, but seldom, but when he did speak, he was listened
to as the oracle of truth. There was nothing of the par-
tisan about him ; his language was so pure, and his state-
ments and deductions so clear and correct, that none
pretended to dispute them. His sole object was his
country, his whole country, and nothing but his country.
In eighteen hundred and eighteen, or nineteen, I cannot
say which, he went to Europe for the recovery of his
health. I was there in eighteen hundred and twenty, and
followed directly in his path. The first question put to
me upon almost all occasions, was, do you know Mr.
Lowndes ? I took pleasure in answering that I not only
knew him, but had known him intimately from his boy-
hood. His greatness and goodness were the theme of
every tongue. Mr. Roscoe related to me the following
anecdote. Mr. Lowndes was a very early riser, and so
arranged matters with the porter of the Athenaeum, that
he could have admission at an early hour — it was here
he whiled away the time until breakfast. One morning
when he was thus engaged, another gentleman entered,
and from attraction, or some other cause, they soon came
in contact, and got into conversation together, neither
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106 REMINISCENCES OP TIB
having any knowledge of the other. They forgot their
breakfasts, and were not aware how time had passed,
until they found the great room, in which they were, rap-
idly filling up, when they separated, still ignorant of each
other's names. Upon 'change, some hours after, the En-
glishman met Mr. Roscoe, and related to him his morn-
ing interview with u the great unknown," and observed
that he was the tallest man, and the most unassuming
man he ever saw, and a man of the greatest intellect he
ever heard speak* Mr. Roscoe immediately replied, u it
is the great American, Lowndes, you have been con-
versing with ; come and dine with me to-morrow, and I
will introduce you to him."
Immediately after his resignation in eighteen hundred
and twenty-two, he again embarked for Europe, accom-
panied by his wife and daughter, and died at sea, October
the twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and twenty-two, in
the forty-first year of his age. Thus died a man who cer-
tainly left no superior, and very few, if any, equals behind
him. That trait of character in which he excelled all
his cotemporaries, was wisdom. It was the same trait
of character, in a greater extent, which distinguished the
Father of his country from all other men, in all times. —
When Mr. Lowndes was applied to, to become a candi-
date for the Presidency, his reply was worthy of a
Washington, and should be engraven upon the heart of
every American. « IT IS AN OFFICE NEITHER
TO BE SOUGHT FOR, NOR DECLINE D." The
answer shows him as he was — among the wise, the
wisest ; among the good, the best.
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LA.8T SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 1OT
JOHN GEDDES,
GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA IN 1819 1ND 1890.
Written July 13, 18M.
I knew this gentleman from his youth. He was a na-
tive of Charleston, where his father kept a store, and by
frugality was enabled to educate his son at the college
in that city ; after which, he studied law. Soon after
he was admitted to the bar, ,his close attention to busi-
ness, and highly popular manners, brought him a good
share of practice. In a year or two, he was elected to
the legislature, and at his second or third term, speaker
of the house, to the great astonishment of his foes in
Charleston, who were neither few nor small. His rapid
rise was cause of great mortification to the aristocracy,
who hated him — he was in their way. He was soon after
elected Intendant of the city, (an office synonymous with
that of mayor,) and so faithfully did he perform its oner-
ous duties, that even N his enemies confessed they never
had a better. About this time, he was elected major of
cavalry, and was a very spirited and efficient officer.
He married a Miss Chalmers, (the daughter of a very
wealthy mechanic,) by whom he had a daughter and two
sons.
His business and his popularity increased daily, when,
in November, 1818, he was elected governor of the
state ; in which high and responsible station, he acquitted
himself to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. It
was during his administration, that President Monroe*
visited Charleston, where he was received and entertained
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108 REMINISCENCES OF THE
by Governor Geddes, in a style not equalled any where
else in the United States. The legislature of the state,
long after his death, nobly paid back to his heirs a hand-
some portion of the large sum expended by him on this
occasion, to do honor to the State.
At the close of his administration, or soon after, he was
elected a major-general, and proved himself a skilful
commander, and good disciplinarian. His courage could
not be doubted ; it had beea tried, and not found wanting.
His house was the abode of. hospitality. From the
time he entered public life, no man in Charleston kept a
better table, or entertained more company. I was always
an invited guest, and have frequently met judges, chan-
cellors, lawyers, and field officers of the military, at his
table, of both political parties. A former governor,
Charles Pinckney, who had been minister to several
courts of Europe, told me that he never saw a table
better provided any where, than at Governor Geddes.
I have had some experience in this way, and perfectly
agree with him in opinion.
General Geddes was not a very talented man, but his
close attention to business, and his great tact and system,
rendered him an excellent executive officer, and fully
supplied the want of them. He was very public spirited,
active, and enterprising ; a good husband, a good father,
and a warm friend. I do not know his age at the time
of his decease, which was five or six years ago, but think
he must have been from fifty-five to sixty.
The following letter speaks for itself.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 109
LETTER FROM HIS EXCELLENCY JOHN GEDDES.
Charleston, January 14, 1819.
Dear Sir — I had the pleasure to receive your kind
favor of the 27th ult., on my return from Columbia, con-
gratulating me on my election to the gubernatorial chair
of this State. Be assured that a sentiment of approbation
from an old friend, who has known me long and inti-
mately, was peculiarly grateful to my feelings ; the more
especially, as I had not had the satisfaction to receive a
line from you for a long period.
At the same time, permit me to tender you my most
sincere and cordial congratulations, on your election as
a member of the legislature of Maryland ; and to express
my conviction, that your active and independent course
of conduct, for which you have been always distinguished,
will be conducive to the best interests of that State.
You ask me whether the legislature of this State
repealed the laws against usury? It was a measure
much desired ; but in the hurry and bustle of legislation,
and there being a great press of other matter which was
deemed of more importance, that subject was postponed
till next session. I am inclined to view money as a
commodity, which ought to bring its real valtie, depend-
ing wholly on the will of the seller and purchaser as to
the price to be given. My mind is not, however, mature,
so as to decide on the propriety of the measure. I am,
at this moment, rather inclined to believe that it would
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110 REMINISCENCES OF THE
be better for any community to be without restrictive
laws on the subject.
Wishing you, and your family, health and happiness,
I am, dear sir, very respectfully,
And most truly yours,
E. S. Thomas, Esq. JOHN GEDDES.
DEFENCE OF THE JEWS.
At the request of a friend, who has heard me recite
portions of the following speech, and who has read nearly
all my reminiscences, I have undertaken to tax my mem-
ory to write out so much of it as I can call to recollection.
It was delivered in the legislature of Maryland, in 1818,
upon the bill, so to alter the constitution of that State, as
to place the Jews upon an equal footing with other
citizens.
Mr. Speaker : — I congratulate the House on having,
after so many postponements, at last, got the bill for the
relief of our Hebrew friends fairly before it. The disa-
bilities imposed by our constitution upon this remnant of
the once chosen people of God, have too long been a blot
upon that instrument, where nothing but justice, pure and
undefiled, should ever have had a place ; but I trust the
time is now near at hand for wiping it out, and rendering
that justice which constitutes the first duty of a christian,
u to do as he would be done by."
In South Carolina, where they are very numerous, they
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE T1A«S. Ill
«
have, from the formation of its constitution, enjoyed every
political privilege in common with other citizens. They
have been called into places of high trust and power, both
in civil and military capacities, and performed their du-
ties as legislators, magistrates, and military officers, with
credit to themselves and usefulness to the State. And
why should they not ? Permit me to ask, what kind of
policy or justice is that, which first compels men to te
dishonest, and then punishes them for being so ?
From the first dawnings of Christianity to the present
day, they have been driven by persecution, in some shape
or other, from country to country, throughout all Chris-
tendom, without a country or a home that they could call
their own, until they found the latter in some of the states of
this highly favored land, but not in this ; here they cannot
hold office, civil or military ; and why? because the con-
stitution withholds from them the right. Sir, it is to
amend that part of the constitution which withholds from
them this right, that I now address this House.
I have often heard it said, and I believe it, that the only
good article in the original constitution, is that which
provides for its amendment. If proof of this be wanted,
look at it now ; it has been so patched up with amend-
ments, that there is but one man in the State who
can now tell what was the original, and which is the
patchwork — that man is our venerable chancellor. Yes,
Sir, I have it from the highest legal authority in the State,
that he alone can tell the original from the amendments ;
and until the people of Maryland are brought to see the
necessity of a new constitution, and to do away with
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112 REMINISCENCES OF THE
those provisions of the present, which are so far behind
the age in which we live, it is the duty of the legislature
to continue to amend it ; and in no instance can that duty
be exercised with a more legitimate right, than in the
case now under consideration — the emancipation of the
Jews from that political bondage, under which they have
labored from the formation of it.
*##*#*# *
I know not how it may appear to others, but to me it
appears strange, that in a land of freedom, among a chris-
tian people, for such we call ourselves, and such others
call us, this first obligation of a christian should have
lain so long dormant ; but so it is, and instead of stopping
to inquire the cause, let us set about remedying the evil,
as the only atonement we can now offer for our past
neglect.
Sir, it has been said to me by a member of this House,
outside these walls, that he could not act with me upon
this subject. Had the remark come from one loose in his
principles, and vicious in his habits, " it would have passed
by me as the idle wind which I respect not f but coming,
as it did, from a gentleman unsurpassed in correct prin-
ciples, and in all those charities which adorn and sweeten
life, performing, I may say, with this single exception,
every christian duty ; I acknowledge it surprised me, and
I asked him the reason; the answer was prompt, " Be-
cause, the Jews put our Savior to death." Sir, I call
upon that gentleman, and all who think with him upon
this subject, to pause and reflect upon the language of our
Savior upon the cross, at that tremendously awful mo-
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ment, when the earth shook to its centre ; when the veil
of the temple was rent in twain, and universal darkness
shrouded the face of nature ; what then was the language
of our Savior upon the cross, to his Father in Heaven ?
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
And shall we, his humble followers, presume not to for-
give them ? The thought is impious*
Sir, there is one fact attending the persecution of the
Jews that strikes me as worthy of particular notice, and
that is this, that however much christian sects of different
denominations differed with each other upon all other sub-
jects, they united on this, of persecuting the Jews ; from
the frozen regions of northern Europe, to the burning
sands of southern Africa ; from the plains of Palestine in
the east, to the wilds of America, far, far in the west,
superstition, bigotry, but above all, prejudice, have fol-
lowed and persecuted the miserable Jews. Yet, not-
withstanding the persecutions and prejudices against
them, by habits of economy and a tact for trade, surpass-
ing that of any other people, they frequently acquired
wealth, which, not daring to display, for fear of being
robbed of it by their persecutors, in many instances in-
creased to such a great degree, as to enable them to pur-
chase indulgences to a certain extent, not permitted to
the mass of their people.
Sir, I recollect an anecdote of one who lived in Berlin,
in the reign of Frederick the Great, who was thus situa-
ted ; his name was Ephraim ; he was possessed of great
wealth, acquired, in a great measure, by indulgences ; he
wished to travel, and applied to the king for permission
10*
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114 REMINISCENCES OF THE
so to do ; but Frederick, not doubting but that if he trav-
elled, his wealth would travel with him, wrote him the
following laconic refusal :
" Dear Ephraim : Nothing but death shall part us.
Frederick.*
Here the absolute tyrant displayed his power in such a
manner as not only to put an end to all further solicita-
tions upon the subject, but to hold out the idea, by his
manner of doing it, that it was the great regard he had
for the Jew, that induced him not to comply with his
request. It is scarcely possible for the same number of
r words to be so combined as to be more pregnant of
meaning.
##**#** *
Of all the writers in the English language, or in any
other, for aught I know, Shakspeare, has been the most
severe upon the Jews. One of his best and most popular
plays, The Merchant of Venice, is devoted to their injury,
of which the following lines are a specimen, and in such
beautiful language too, that they live in the memory of
every reader.
" I pray you, think you question with the Jew :
You may as well go stand upon the beach,
And bid the main flood bate his usual height ;
You may as well use question with the wolf,
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ;
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise,
When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven ;
You may as well do any thing most hard,
As seek to soften that (than which what's harder?)
HU Jewish heart."
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 115
Here, sir, is a picture drawn by the master hand of the
great bard of nature, and such a picture, as makes the
soul sicken at the fiend-like monster it so glaringly por-
trays ; but let us for a moment suppose the characters in
it reversed ; that the christian should take the place of
the Jew, and the Jew of the christian ; and such, sir, are
the facts.
Miss Edgeworth informs us in one of her works (Har-
rington) that, " In the true story, from which Shakspeare
took tJie plot of The Merchant of Venice, it was a chris-
tian who acted the part of the Jew, and the Jew that of -
the christian. It was the christian who insisted upon *
having the pound of flesh from next the Jew's heart"
For the truth of this statement Miss Edgeworth refers to
Stephen's life of Sixtus the Fifth, and Malone's Shak-
speare. Thus showing that all the abusive epithets
against this persecuted race, with which this play abounds,
should have been lavished upon a christian, instead of a
Jew. Shylock, who figures so largely, and so infamously
in it, from the days of Shakspeare down to the present
time, has been held up to view as a fiend in human shape,
for whose reputed misdeeds his whole race and nation
were to be cursed, and persecuted, through all future
time ; but now that the facts are looked into, the whole
scene is reversed. This blot upon human nature was a
professed christian : I say professed, Mr. Speaker, be-
cause there was nothing of the practical part of the char-
acter in his conduct
Sir, while the bill upon your table reminds them of their
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116 REMINISCENCES OF THE
degraded situation as men, in this State, it also brings to
their minds, and enables them duly to appreciate, the
blessings they enjoy under the liberal policy, constitution,
and laws of the United States, which extends to them, in
common with their fellow citizens ; the right of worship-
ing God agreeably to the dictates of their own conscien-
ces, and of aspiring to offices of honor and trust, without
the impediment of religious disability, as thrown in their
way by the constitution of Maryland.
They are grateful for the privileges they do enjoy ;
not given to complaining. Wherever their lot has been
cast, through all ages, and in all climes, long suffering
and forbearance have marked their character, as has their
adherence to the religion of their forefathers ; at least in
the observance of its outward forms, with much more
strictness, as a people, than their persecutors can boast.
But, sir, we shall be told that their habits are idle ; that
few follow mechanical pursuits, and less agricultural.
Admitted: what inducements have they ever had to
either, except those whose lot it has been to be cast upon
the shores of the United States ? None. On the con-
trary, had they turned their attention to the mechanic
arts, their progress in the acquisition of wealth could not
have escaped observation, and the rapacity of the mon-
archs under whom they lived, would not long have been
wanting a pretext to seize upon it. Still more would
they have been exposed, had they taken to agriculture ;
besides, in most, if not all of the countries of Europe, they
have been debarred the right to hold lands in fee.
It was these circumstances which drove them to the
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 117
necessity of getting their bread by other means; and
what other remained to them, but traffic, and that of a
kind that made the least show ? Hence they became
money changers, and dealers in bullion and precious
stones — branches of business which they almost entirely
engrossed, accumulating great wealth in many instances,
which, from its portability, and the small space it occu-
pied, was easily concealed from their persecutors, until by
occasionally relieving the wants of the government, when
under pecuniary embarrassments, they were granted
indulgences, in order to induce them to greater exertion
in the acquisition of wealth, that they might be the more
effectually squeezed whenever the increased necessities
of the government required it.
I have thus, Sir, endeavored to show the causes which
drove them, from necessity, to adopt those means of gain-
ing a subsistence, which are now cast upon them as a
reproach, without any regard being paid to that neces-
sity, until it has become to them a second nature ; and it
would be almost as difficult for them to change those
habits, " as for the Ethiopian to change his skin, or the
leopard his spots."
In conclusion, Sir, if any thing that has escaped me
upon this occasion, should admit of being construed into
the slightest disrespect for our holy religion, I beg to be
understood, that it was not so intended. Far from it.—
The Christian religion is the pillar of our faith and the
anchor of our hopes, without which, conscience would
swing from her moorings, and we should all be afloat
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118 RBHINISCBNCBS OF TIE
upon the ocean of uncertainty ; without helm or compass*
until, tempest tost, we should be stranded upon the shores
of "that undiscovered country, from whose bourne no
traveller returns.*
PROGRESS OP THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.
In 1802, among a large parcel of old books that I pur*
chased of ^n English gentleman in Charleston, were a se-
quence of five small folio volumes of the Jirst Gazettes pub-
lished in England. They were printed at Oxford, by order
of the government, and commenced in November, 1666.
They were in good preservation, each volume containing
one year's papers. The first contained an account of the
great fire of that year, and a number of articles on the great
plague of the preceding year. There was news in them
from all parts of Europe, from some parts of Asia, and
from " our colony of Virginia." One of the articles from
the latter place gave an account of the prospects of the
" Tobacco crop." In the making up and arrangement of
matter, they were little, if any, inferior to the country
papers of the United States forty years ago, every arti-
cle of intelligence beginning with a two-line letter, as
ours did then.
Not duly appreciating those volumes, which I had
bought with others for a mere trifle, and finding that
others put a still less value upon them, I determined to
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YMR8. 119
take them to London, (which I visited annually,) where
their value would be duly appreciated. * I did so, and left
them for sale with my agents, Vernor, Hood & Sharp.
They failed soon after, and I never heard more of those
interesting volumes, for what is more interesting than a
volume of old newspapers ? — yet how few there are
who take the trouble to preserve them.
The material for the best history that could be writ-
ten of the last war, is to be found in the newspapers of
th&t period, which will be invaluable to the future histo-
rian of our country. *
The first newspaper printed in this country, was the
Boston News Letter, in 1704. I have turned over some
of those and other antiquated volumes of the periodical
press, which contain numerous interesting facts in our
Revolutionary history, no where else to be found.
The best, and I believe the only collection, of the news-
papers of that period, are to be found in the valuable
Library of the American Antiquarian Society, at Wor-
cester, Massachusetts, founded and munificently endowed
by the late Isaiah Thomas, LL. D. The Library of the
Massachusetts Historical Society, at Boston, has some
also, and many pamphlets of the period of which I
It is a great misfortune that at the period immediately
preceding and during our Revolutionary war, there were
so few newspapers, the whole number probably not much
exceeding twenty. Now there are from ten to twelve
hundred. What there were, furnished incomparably the
best accounts, (particularly in their neighborhood,) of
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120 ^REMINISCENCES OF THB
those thnllii% events, which were of such frequent occur-
rence, in " the days that tried men's souls."
I cannot say when, where, or by whom, the first daily
paper was printed in the United States ; but, if my
memory serves, the first one published at Boston, was in
1792, or 93, edited by Thomas Paine, the poet, who,
after the death of his elder brother, was called Robert
Treat Paine, after his father, one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence. The paper was called the'
" Federal Orrery? and did not last long, I believe. It
was a nuiqjber of years after, before another daily was
attempted in that town. They had no deficiency of pa-
pers, however — there were the " Independent Chroni-
cle," the " Centinel," the " Palladium," and the " Gazette,"
all twice a week. Demv was the c6mmon size of a
newspaper, in those days, and when they were enlarged
to super-royal, their size was as much a matter of aston-
ishment, as the mammoth sheets of the present day. —
Editors gave themselves little trouble about marine news,
shipping lists, and price currents, in those days. The
first marine list published in the United States, was by
Tom Allen, at New London, Connecticut. I recol-
lect a remark in it, during a bitter cold spell, some five
and forty years ago — it was this, that "Hellgate had
frozen up, and no vessels could pass." This place, for-
merly so called, in the East River, New York, has its
proper cognomen " Hurlgate."
So late as 1795, the only notice that was taken of ma-
rine affairs, in the papers of Charleston, S. C, was their
arrival or departure, with the bare mention of the
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YtiR9 9 121*
vessels' and captains' names. There were then but three
papers in that State ; two, daily, in the city, and one
once, or twice, a week at Columbia.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
i Written July, 1857.
After the organization of the government under the
federal constitution, in 1789, Washington m^le a tour of
the Eastern States. It was, on his arrival at Worcester,
Massachusetts, in the course of this tour, that I, then a
boy*of fourteen, was presented to him by my distinguished
kinsman, Isaiah Thomas, and had the satisfaction of
shaking the hand of him who was " first in war, first in
peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." I
never can forget his words, or my feelings, on the occa-
sion. " Young man," said he, " your uncle has set you
a bright example of patriotism — and never forget, that,
next to our God, we owe our highest duty to our coun-
try." The calm dignity of his manner, and the mild
accents of his voice on the occasion, are engraven upon
my heart, and will be as lasting as their tablet
It has often been asserted by his intimate friends, and
even by some of his biographers, that few men had the
nerve to approach him with familiarity. The following
anecdote, illustrative of this fact, I . have often heard
repeated, and its truth was confirmed to me by gentlemen
in New York, who had the best opportunity of knowing,
vol. i u
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182 «EM*NISCENCBS Of THE
The late Gquverneur Morris, in conversation with
iome friends on this subject one day, when congress sat
in New York, and Washington occupied the house then
in front of the " Bowling Green," denied the correctness
of this opinion, and oflered to test the truth of it at once,
by joining him in the garden, where Washington was
walking, alone" and in their view. A bet was made, and
Mr. Morris went immediately into the garden to decide
it. He approached the President in the rear, and as he"
came up along side, gave him a familiar tap on the shoul-
der, at th# same time addressing him familiarly with
"how do you do, sir?" Washington turned his head,
and echoed back the question, with all that dignity which
distinguished him from all other men. Morris was petri-
fied ; and returning to his friends, declared that nothing
would tempt him to repeat the experiment. Although
he had been for years, in almost daily intercourse with
this wonderful man, and supposed he might be approached
like other men under similar circumstances, he felt his
soul sink within him at the look and tone of voice with
which his question was answered.
For myself, I can only say, that I have stood in the
presence of kings, and sat at table with princes, without
any of those feelings of awe and reverence, which came
over me like a summer cloud when in his presence,
although then in the recklessness of boyhood.
When I look back on the then infancy of our country,
with a population of less than three millions, and its limit-
ed resources, and contrast the men of those days with
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the present, and its now limitless means, I can scarcely
tealize the difference.
[^ Washington's style of travelling comported with tb&
marked dignity of his character ; on the occasion above
mentioned, it was as follows : — It was his general prao*
tice to enter a town in his chariot, and leave it on horse-
back. His post-chariot was drawn by four beautiful bay
horses, and drove by postillions in blanket coat, liveries,
jockey caps, buckskins and boots ; while upon his right,
on horseback, rode Colonel Lear, and on his left, Major
Jackson : next came a light baggage waggog, drawn by
* two fine bay horses, driven by a white man in a round
corduroy jacket, glazed hat, buckskins and boots ; whilst
faithful Billy brought up the rear, mounted on a fine blood
horse, and leading the General's white charger, presented
him by Charles the Fourth, of Spain. It was precisely in
this style that I saw him enter Worcester, followed by a
cavalcade of gentlemen on horseback. When he left it,
the only change was that he mounted his charger and
rode between his two secretaries, Lear and Jackson;
while the empty chariot and the remainder of his equip-
age followed after, with troops of horse and cavalcades
of horsemen, increasing as they went, until they arrived
at Boston.
It was on his arrival at Trenton, New Jersey, in the
course of this tour, that an incident took place, that wouM
have turned the head of any other man. It was this:
when he arrived at the bridge, he was met by a large
procession of ladies, all clad in white, with baskets of
flowers, with which they strewed the way before him,
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124 RBhlNISCENCES OP THE
singing a beautiful ode, the chorus of which was, " Strew
your hero's way with flowers I " When he arrived at
the centre of the bridge, as he rode uncovered under a
triumphal arch prepared for the occasion, unknown to,
and totally unexpected by him, a crown of flowers, sus-
pended from the centre of the arch, was made to drop
upon his head ! But what was a crown to him, who for
years had only to have hinted that he would accept one,
to have had the glittering bauble placed permanently
upon his brow. There were not a few who wished, and
anxiously sought to place one there ; but such was the
purity of his whole life, and the dignity of his mighty *
mind, none dared to hint it to him, although itwas not
possible for him to be ignorant of their wishes. J
Many of those who would have arrayed him in the
purple, were designing men, and had their object in k ;
but there were others, as pure patriots as any who
breathed their last breath for their country, such was
their veneration for the man, his character and services,
they would willingly have lent a hand ! Yes !• the very
men, who, with him, had toiled through a war of seven
years, and suffered every privation to rid themselves and
their country from monarchical rule, would have restored
that rule in his person, unmindful of who might succeed
him ! — but it was his patriotism and wisdom, that saved
our country from what their abundant gratitude would
have fixed upon it. Thus it is, men will wade through
blood to freedom, then " throw it like a worthless weed
away!"
That act of his life, of all others the most important to
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 125
his country, has been less noticed than almost any other;
yet it was then, and there, that he again saved his court'
try, under circumstances more threatening thtn any that
had preceded them. All the toil that had been suffered,
all the blood that had been spilt, would have been suffered
and spilt in vain, but for his patriotism, his prudence, and
his matchless wisdom, when the arch fiend inspired the
writer of the Newburg Letters. At no period of the
war of independence, were the liberties of our countiy
so suspended by a single hair, as on that occasion, when
the war had ceased.
As long after as in 1798, the venerable General Lin-
coln remarked to me, that it was "then he trembled for his
country;" and added, "no other man could have saved
it." Elbridge Gerry was present, and remarked, that
"the American people would never know how often
that man had stood between them and ruin." Yet there
were native sons of our soil, base enough to calumniate
his memory ; and thousands, while there are still living
those who witnessed his unequalled wisdom and patriot-
ism, who are ever ready to sneer at his illustrious deeds,
and undervalue his great services !
When the news of his death reached England, parlia-
ment was in session, and Mr. Fox announced the mournful
tidings in a burst of eloquence and feeling, that was lis-
tened to in the most profound silence ; and eulogising his
inimitable virtues, he pronounced wisdom as that trait in
his character, which distinguished him above all other
men.
The eulogies delivered on the occasion of his death,
n*
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^ 126 REMINISCENCES OF THE
* ..were numerous, and elicited a large portion of the talent
- &£ the country. The best was that of the Rev. Dr.
Smith, p^ident of Princeton college. His exordium
commenced with this soul-stirring sentence: "Great
God I we adore thy divine Providence, which hath smit-
ten the father of his country, and left a nation in tears."
The next, in a philosophical point of view the first, was
delivered by Doctor Ramsay, the historian, at Charleston,
S- C. This gentleman, at my solicitation, wrote the " Life
of Washington," and, as far as I am capable of judging, it
is among the best pieces of biography in the English lan-
guage, and quite as deserving of being a class book in
the schools, as any that find a place there.
It is an extraordinary fact, that the life of no man, of
any age or nation, who has risen to greatness, ever
afforded so few anecdotes as his.
One, however, I well remember to have heard fre-
quently spoken of soon after it occurred ; it was this :
directly after the British were compelled to quit Boston,
which was besieged by Washington, with General Ward
second in command, General Ward resigned his com-
mission, which circumstance was thus spoken of by
Washington, in a latter to congress ; " no sooner is the
seat of war removed from beyond the smoke of his own
chimneys, than General Ward resigns his command."
About the time of the organization of the government
under the constitution, General Ward was informed of
this remark, and being elected to the second congress, *
soon after his arrival at the seat of government, (then
New York,) he took a friend with him and called upon
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Washington, and asked him if it was true, thstf he ha<J«* »
made use of such language. The President replied tijat^
he did not know ; but he kept copies of all hisrfetters, and
would take an opportunity of examining them, and give
him an answer at the next session. Accordingly, at the
next session General Ward called again with his friend,
and received for answer, that he (Washington) had writ-
ten to that effect. Ward then said, " Sir, you are no
gentleman," turned on his heel and left him, and here, of
course, the matter ended.
I have recently met with the confirmation of an impor-
tant fact I had heard mentioned nearly half a century
ago ; but I do not know that it has found its way into
any biography of Washington. It is this : that Governor
Johnson, of Maryland, requested Mr. John Adams to
nominate Washington for commander-in chief ; that
Adams seemed to decline, and Johnson made the nomin-
ation. At a previous meeting of the New England dele-
gation, to consult upon this subject, General Ward was
agreed upon with the consent of every man present, but
Mr. Adams, who dissented, and declared himself in favor
of Washington. Great God, how often was the fate of
this country suspended by a single hair ? This was one
of the numerous instances.
When Ramsay wrote his biography, he sought in
vain among the friends and neighbors of the illustrious
dead, for those little incidents which so often enliven the
page of the biographer.
In 1797, Lord Erskine wrote a book, in which he intro-
duced the name of Washington, and sent him a copy,
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128 REMINISCENCES OP THE
with a note to this effect, written upon a blank leaf of
it: — " it has been my good fortune, through life, to be
associate* with the most talented and distinguished men
of Europe ; but you, sir, are the only human being, for
whom I ever felt a reverential awe, totally unlike any
thing I ever felt towards any other of the human race."
" TeU it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askalon: 1
The father and saviour of his country, is indebted to a
MECHANIC, of the city of Philadelphia, for a tomb ! ! !
This man to whom Congress, soon after the Revolution,
voted a statue, and having voted it, gave themselves no
further concern about it — this man, to whose memory,
soon after his death, another Congress voted a tomb and
monument in the Capitol, and even wrote to, and obtained
the reluctant consent of, his illustrious relict, to the remo-
val of his remains, for the purpose of carrying their vote
into effect ; but, having voted, and obtained the necessary
consent, and had their names blazoned abroad for their
patriotism and gratitude to him who was, among the
great, the greatest ; among the good, the best, — the mean
wretches pocketed their per diem and mileage, and went
home, without making the least provision for carrying
their resolution into effect. What, I will ask, must have
been the feelings of that lady, (who was, in every respect,
worthy the great name she bore,) when, after having been
prevailed on to part with that, which of all things was
most dear to her, her husband's remains, she saw those
very men, who had made such professions to her of their
veneration for his character, and gratitude for his servi-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 129
ces, break up, and go home, without making any provis-
ion for the fulfilment of the great object, wjjich alone
could soothe her feelings, for having granted their request?
When I take all the circumstances into view, I can-
not imagine any other feeling than that of the most inef-
fable contempt, having place in the bosom of an insulted
lady, upon such an occasion : but, when I consider wlio
this lady mas, I may permit myself to suppose it might
have been softened into pity. Well, be it so ; they are
twin sisters, I have said that our country is indebted to
an individual^ a mechanic, for a tomb for its saviour to
rest in. It is true, and would to God we had millions of
such mechanics, who have not only the patriotism and
good sense to appreciate such services, but the generosi-
ty to reward them with a TOMB. Yes ! the names of
WASHINGTON and Struthers will descend the
stream of time together, until its last wave is swallowed
up in the ocean of eternity. I hope, and trust, that no
relative of Washington — no proprietor, in after times, of
the Mount Vernon estate, will ever suffer his remains to
be removed, under any pretext whatever ; or any monu-
ment to be built over them.
u The Tomb of Washington. — Many years ago, a
stranger, visiting Mount Vernon, pencilled upon the door-
post of the lone tomb which contained the remains of the
* first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his coun-
trymen/ the following words :
" Blush, oh Americans,
that the tomb op your washington,
affords not a smooth stone,
on which weeping gratitude
can inscribe her veneration ! w
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130 REMINISCENCES OF THE
" Twice, in the course of thirty-seven years, the wooden
coffin has been renewed ; and the vault containing it,
once, I believe, rebuilt. It was at length thought becom*
ing to obtain a receptacle, more permanent and respecta-
ble than that of wood. Application was made to Mr.
Struthers, a citizen of Philadelphia, for the construction
of a sarcophagus of marble. Mr. Struthers entreated
permission to supply one without being paid for it. It
was recently completed, and taken to the sequestered
spot, on the eastern slope of Mount Vernon, selected for
a family vault, by Washington himself, a short time pre*
vious to bis death. ' The spot is skirted,' continues a
late newspaper account, 'by a dense wood in front
guarded with an iron gate, and Gothic arch-way, over
which is the following inscription:
"WITHCN THIS ENCLOSURE REST
THE REMAINS OF
GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON."
" Over the door of the vault is a pannel bearing these
impressive words from St. John :
" ' I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth
in me, though be were dead, yet shall he live. And who-
soever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die.'
" Jhe sarcophagus is placed on the right of the entrance,
between the outer wall and the vault, and the ceremony
of depositing the leaden coffin within the marble cavity,
was consummated on Saturday, by Mr. Strickland, Mr.
Struthers, and Mr. Hill, the sculptor, in the presence of
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS, 131
Major Lewis, John A. Washington, George Washington,
Miss Jane Washington, and the Rev. Mr. Johnson and
lady.
" The construction of the coffin is of the modern form,
and consists of an excavation from a solid block of Penn-
sylvania marble, eight feet in length, three feet in width,
and two feet two inches in depth, resting on a base of
plinth, projecting round the body of the sarcophagus ; the
lid, or covering stone, is a ponderous block of pure white
marble, emblazoned with the insignia of the United States,
beautifully sculptured in the boldest relief.
u The design occupies a large portion of the central part
of the top, and represents a shield divided into thirteen
stripes, resting on the flag of our country, which is
attached by cords to a spear, forming a back ground to
the shield, by which it is supported. The crest is an
eagle, with open wings, just perching upon the superior
bar of the shield, in the act of clutching the arrows and
olive branch. Beneath the armorial bearings and foot of
the coffin, upon the plain field of the lid, is the bold and
deeply sculptured name of
WASHINGTON.
The foot of the coffin bears the following inscription :
4 By the permission of Lawrence Lewis, surviving ex*
ecutor of George Washington, this sarcophagus was pre-
sented by John Struthers, marble mason, A. D. 1837/ "
The following beautiful sketch of the character of
Washington, is from the pen of the venerable and learned
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132 REMINISCENCES OF THE
Asher Robbins, of Newport, Rhode Island, late a senator
of that State in the congress of the United States, and one
of the purest patriots our country ever produced. I have
. known him for upwards of forty years, and always the
same; pure, studious, and patriotic. His quitting the
councils of the nation when he did, was a subject of deep
regret to evety patriot ; but his age admonished him, and
he was compelled to obey the admonition.
The occasion of this beautiful effusion was this ; our
friend was dining with a large party, in Washington,
where great conviviality prevailed ; it happened to be the
eve of Washington's birth ; Mr. Robbins sat silent, lost
in thought, from which he was roused by being called
upon for a toast. He rose and asked them if they were
serious in calling upon him, an old man, upon such an
occasion ; they assured him they were ; he then said, if they
would allow him a few moment's reflection, he would
give them a toast, prefaced with a few remarks. This
was followed by a breathless anxiety to hear him. After
a few moments of profound silence, he rose and thus
addressed them :
r— ' " On the near approach of that calendar day which
gave birth to Washington, I feel rekindling within me
some of those emotions, always connected with the recol-
lection of that hallowed name. Permit me to indulge
them on this occasion, for a moment, in a few remarks as
y preliminary to a sentiment which I shall beg leave to
propose.
I consider it as one of the consolations of my age, that
I am old enough and fortunate enough, to have seen that
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• LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 133
Tfonderful man. This happiness is still common to so
many yet ameng the living, that less is thought of it now,
than will fife in after times ; but it is no less a happiness
to me on that account *
" While a boy at school, I saw him for the first time ;
it was when he was passing through New England, to
take the command-in-chief of the American armies at
Cambridge. Never shall I forget the impression his
imposing presence then made upon my young imagina-
tion, so superior did he seem to me, to all that I had seen
or imagined of the human form, for striking effect. I
remember with what delight, in my after studies, I came
to the line in Virgil, that expressed all the enthusiasm of
my own feelings, as inspired by that presence, and which
I could not often enough repeat :
" Credo equidem, nee vara fides, genas esse deorum."
" I saw him again at his interview with Rochambeau,
when they met to settle the plan of combined operations
between the French fleet and the American armies,
against the British on the Chesapeake ; and then I saw
the immense crowd drawn together from all the neigh-
boring towns, to get, if possible, one look at the man who
had throned himself in every heart. Not one of that
immense crowd doubted the final triumph of his country
in her arduous conflict ; for every one saw, or thought
he saw, in Washington, her guardian angel, commissioned
by Heaven to insure her that triumph. Nil desperandum
was the motto with every one.
" Nil desperandum, Teucro duce, auspice Teucro. w
^VOL. L 19
*
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1
134 BEMINISCBIf CBS OF VHB •
« In after life, when the judgment dbrrects the extr&v*
gan& of early impressions, I sa*v him on sevetal ocop*
sions, by t- saw nothing at #kher to admoni&h 4ne of any
extravagance %i nfy early impressions.; The impression
was still the same ; I had the same overpowering sense
of being jfe the presence of some superior being*
" It is indeed remarkable, and I believe upique, in the
history of men, that Washington made the same impres-
sion upon all minds, at all places, and at once. When
his fame first broke upon the world, it spread at once
over the whole world. By the consent of mankind —
by the universal sentiment — he was placed at the head
of the human species ; above all envy, because above all
emulation ; for no one then pretended, or has pretended
to be — at least who has been allowed to be — the co-
rival of Washington in fame.
" When the great Frederick, of Prussia, sent his portrait
to Washington, with this inscription upon it, " from the
oldest General in Europe, to the greatest Genera^ in the
wojld," he did but echo the sentiment of all the chivalry
of Europe. Nor was the sentiment confined to Europe,
nor to the bounds of civilization : for the Arab of the
desert talked of Washington, in his tent ; his name wan-
dered with the wandering Scythian, and was cherished
by him as a household word, in all his migrations. No
clime was so barbarous as to be a stranger to the name ;
but every where, and by all men, that name was placed
at the same point of elevation, and above compeer. .-As.
it was in the beginning, so it is now — of the future we"
cannot speak with certainty. Some future age, in the
t
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* * T
t *
i *
' * i
* LA«T SIXTt-PIVB YEARS. |35
Endless reV<5j&tions*f time, may produce another Wash-
ington ; Init the greater probability is, that he is denned ***
to remauffcrever, as he now is, the phoenix of the human
kind. - : * "• ^ K • ♦
u What a possession to his country is such a fame ! —
♦ Such a *
•* *
" Clarum et venerabile nomen
Gentibus!"
" To all his countrymen it gives, and forever will give,
a passport to respect, wherever they go, to whatever
part of the globe ; for his country is, in every other, iden-
tified with that fame.
u What, then, is incumbent upon us, his countrymen T
Why, to be such a people., as shall be worthy of such a
Fame — a people of whom it shall be said, ' No wonder
such a People have produced such a man as Washing-
ton.' I give you, therefore, this sentiment :
" The memory of Washington. — May his countrymen
prove4faemselves a people worthy of his fame." J,
In my opinion this approaches nearer to the true char-
acter of Washington, than any thing that has preceded
it ; but, we are yet only beginning to learn his character.
As the great Charles James Fox once said to me, " had
any other nation possessed your Washington, they would
have deified him."
I will conclude my subject with the following tribute
to his memory, by Robert Treat Paine, in his poem on
u The Invention of Letters."
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136 REMINISCENCES OF THE «
Could Faustus live, by gloomy grave resided, 4
With powers extensive, as sublime his mind ; «
Thy glorious life a volume should compose,
As Alps immortal, spotless as its snows. »
The stars should be its type, its press the age,
The%arth*its binding, and the sky its page;
In language set, not Babel could o'erturn,
On leaves impressed, which Omar could not burn,
The sacred volume in Heaven's high dome should stand,
Shi A with its suns, and with its arch expand ;
'Till nature's self the Vandal torch shall raise,
And this vast alcove of creation blaze."
From the New York Sunday Morning News.
AUTHENTIC OCCURRENCE OP THE REVOLUTION.
Andre and Arnold. — Some days since, while in
company with Samuel Cassedy, Esq., of Jersey city, he
rblated to us the following anecdote, connected with
Gen. Washington. As every record of our Revolution
is eagerly treasured, and especially respecting Arnold's
treason, and this may be so definitely relied on, we re-
quested Mr. Cassedy to give it to us in such a shape as
would present intrinsic evidence that it could be relied
on — which would be best effected by his permitting the
relation to emanate from himself, with his name attached.
To this publicity, it is but justice to him to remark, that
he strongly objected, but was persuaded by our earnest
entreaties.
To the Editor of the Sunday Morning News :
Dear Sir — In compliance with your request, I com-
mit to paper some details, given to me, a few years ago,
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* LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 137
by fhe late GFovernor Ogden, of New Jersey, in regard to
an offer made by Gen. Washington to Sir Henry Clin-
ton, to giVe up Andre if the Americans could capture
Arnold.
I well recollect hearing my father say it was generally
believed, in the American army, that such an offer had
been made. On mentioning this to Governor Ogden, he
immediately said, he had reason to believe that the offer,
if any there was, was made through him. I requested
him to tell me the particulars — which he did, as nearly
as I can recollect, as follows :
" The American army lay at West Point, in the State
of New York, and the British were in possession of New
York, at the time of the capture of Andre. I received
an order to repair, the next morning, at eight o'clock to
Gen. Washington's head-quarters, with twenty-five horse
— the finest looking that I could select. I repaired
thither at the hour appointed. Gen. Washington handed
me a tetter for Sir Henry Clinton, with directions, that
before I left the camp for New York, I should call and
see the Marquis de la Fayette. The letter of General
Washington was probably on some subject not at all
connected with the real object of my journey.
* I went to the Marquis* quarters, and he said to me —
* You must set off at such a time of day, as will, of neces-
sity, mate it near night when you get to Pawles Hook,
when the commanding officer will, no doubt, invite you.
to stay all night ; and you must insist on delivering that
letter into the hands of the commanding officer there.—
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1^8 REMINISCENCES OF THE
You must tell him, privately, that, " If we can capture
Arnold, Andre will be reprieved ;" and that you have a
high authority for saying so.'
" I left the camp with my twenty-five horse, and reached
the foot of the Bergen hill about sundown. There was
a strong fence drawn across the causeway, and we halted.
I stated that I had a letter for Sir Henry Clinton, from
Gen. Washington, and that my orders were, to deliver it
into the hands of the commanding officer at Pawles Hook,
and to no one else.
" We were immediately admitted, our horses taken
care of, and in the evening, after delivering the letter, I
was invited to a supper with the officers there. I was
seated on the right of the commanding officer and some
time elapsed before I had an opportunity of delivering
the message from the marquis. I said to him, I am au-
thorized to say, that if the Americans can capture Arnold,
eprieved. He seemeil thunderstruck —
jf answered, ' that must be immediately
will go over and see Sir Henry Clinton,
andlet it appear as if I have only gone
at on some ordinary matter of business/
►out two hours, and returned and took his
seat As soon as he had an opportunity to speak to me
privately, he said, ' Kir Henry Johns says a deserter never
wafc^givenup.*"
This statement is as exact as I can repeat it from me-
mory, it having been made to me, by Governor Ogden^
from eight to ten years ago. I commit this to writing
at your particular request — as you thought the circum-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 1£9
f
stances ought not to be lost — and that they should ap-
pear in an authentic shape. While Gov. Ogden was
living, I thought it his sole province to do as he pleased
in relation to this Revolutionary reminiscence ; but as he
is no more, I see no impropriety in what I am now doing.
You will bear me witness, Mr. Editor, that I \*shed you
to publish the narrative without my name attached to it ;
and that my subscribing my name at all, i? because you
urged me to do so.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
SAM'L CASSEDY.
Jersey City, Nov. 4. 1839. . * % .
EDINBURGH IN 1803.
Written February, 1840.
In July, 1803, I left London for Scothlnd, t
mingham and Derby in my way. 1 got ihto
north road before I reached Doncaater, and h
for the London mail coach for Edinburgh,
waited long when it made its appearance, hgX had M
vacant seat, except outside with the driver. I was un-
well at the time, and soon found* my situation very
uncomfertable ; so much so, that I told the driver, I
would stop at the first public house we came to. He
mentioned my situation to the four gentlemen within,
when one immediately proposed that ftey should take
me inside to York, only fifteen miles distant, whiph was
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140 REMINISCENCES OF THE
instantly agreed to. The gentleman who made the pro-
position, was jm invalid, as weU as myself; and, before
we arrived at Yo*fc, suggested that himself, and a gen-
tleman belonging to Glasgow, with myself, should quit
the mail at York, and take a post chaise, and travel as
suited our convenience ; which .was at once acceded to.
Accordingly, when we arrived, at 10 P. M. we all retired
to rest,. with the understanding that we should not depart
until the next day (Sunday) afternoon. I rose early
next morning, and took a walk about this ancient city,
which the reader will find described in my last tour in
England in 1820.
In the afternoon we took our departure, and the next
forenoon arrived at Alnwick, and visited the castle of
that name, one of the four princely establishments of the
duke of Northumberland. A law had then recently been
passed, requiring the lord-lieutenants of counties to reside
in their, governments, in apprehension of the threatened
invasion of the French; consequently, the castle had
been put in order for his grace's reception, who had not
visited it for five years.
I must here digress for a moment r to make the reader
acquainted with my travelling companions.
The invalid gentleman was Mr. Carr, secretary-gene-
ral to the post office for Scotland ; he was returning from
a visit to the general post office in London, where he
had been to settle his annual accounts. A more valuable
acquaintance I could not have made ; he knew every
object upon the road worth the traveller's attention, and
would not suffer me to pass any of them unseen.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 141"
The other gentleman was a merchant of Glasgow,
whose name I have n§ver been able to recollect since
f parted with him on our arrival at Edinburgh.
To return to tlje castle :-r- we entered, through the
port-cullis, a large court-yard, on one side of which stood
the castle ; the whole availed in with a high and thick
stone wall, on the top of which were many statues,
roughly wrought in rough stone, each having in its hands
a piece of rock, - or other missile, ready to hurl at an inva-
ding foe. On a beautiful lawn was a park of six pieces
of brass artillery, with all their equipments in the most
perfect order.
While viewing these, we were waited upon by the
steward, and invited to visit the interior of the castle —
(the ducal family had not arrived.) He first conducted
us through a long, narrow, stone passage, into a room
about fifteen feet square, and as many high, with a win-
dow at top, which let in just light enough to make dark-
ness visible. In the centre of the room, our conductor
placed his foot upon a spring, when a trap door flfcw
open, and exhibited an entrance to a dungeon beneath of
great depth, into which light never entered. When the
old steward closed the trap door, he remarked, " many a
miserable wretch has groaned out his existence there."
This castle is one of the very few that have been kept
in as perfect a state as when the last finish was put to it.
We were now conducted to the apartments of state.
The drawing room was by far the most splendidly fur-
nished room I ever saw. The library room contained
two billiard tables, one small for ladies' use ; and, as nigh
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A f4^ ^ ^BI^IIIB'CI^IS'S OF THE''
^ - 9#-I could^tim&'te'ihem, ftbftut &re thousand • voIum6s of *
* - tpokii ipapy of trhicb'tftai* foita, aW did not appear jto
h$W Iwfc *wdh used, djthough very bid. 'The ielectioa
wat any t&ing Itat cfroice. % + 4 .
* ■" Th$ tmly apartment that remains to be spoken of, ie
thecfripel; one && of which -was token qpwith the
farotty arm* of the Percy's, and those' with whom they
had quartered for a number of hundred years back, +
We left Alnwick tod arrived alovt sunget at Berwick,
upon Tweed.* Here ws supped, and tfagn pursued our
journey, fifteen miles, to a lone ion upon the heath, where
we took" lodgings for the* night. At day light, the next
morning, we re-commenced our joprney through a dense
Scotch mist, over a barren heflih, which so operated upon
; Jhe spirits of all three of us, that not a word was spoken
for several miles. M lepgth, Mr. Carr broke silence by
observing, we were nearing the Devil's bridge, which is
considered quite a curiosity, and we must stop and view
it It consists of a single arch of stone over a deep
chasm ; we got out of our carriage, ind took a winding
path which led us directly under the arch, elevated more
than a hundred feet above our heads ; the view upwards
* was very imposing; in heavy rains an immense quantity
of water passes under this bridge, sweeping the vales
* This ancient town possesses some singular privileges, allowed it for
its loyalty and sufferings, in the wars between England and Scotland ;
for instance, it is not bound by acts of parliament, unless specially
named in the act, the words of which must read thus, " our United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and our town of Berwick, upon
Tweed." The latter part of the sentence was omitted, in the celebrated
ten per cent income tax law, and Berwick escaped the tax. It has other
prifileges, which I cannot call to mind distinctly.
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*
%a$V s*xi*>?^fr ****** i4# #
; belong; it was then dry. gt&rtfctting yot jfiRrrwy, 1*9*
arrived a) lladdlngton totreaJ&sU it i^k very ^ooiq*
- town, and the- inn at which w» stojyed appeafejft* ^e '
among tfa# oldest o( its buMr^B f « g9P% to eflfe* it
' njy head struck against the beam ovejr the ttooH which
brought forcibly to my npind a remark made toFiankKn,
under similar, circumstances, by the celebfated Cottojx.
Mather ; " young man," said ho, " tfoop as y©« goihrough
the world, arid you will save .yourself many a hard krfo ck."
The mist disappeared and the. day v^s* fine, while the
beautiful country of Midlothian presented to our view
the finest cultivated district in Scotland.
The fear of invasion, by the French, had induced the
government to arm <he papple, for which purpose three
hundred thousand stand of arms were taken from the %
tower, and distributed among the volunteers in England
and Scotland. Their training had just commenced, and
I saw numerous samples of their attempting to go through
the mere a, b, c, of military tactics, in a manner that
would have disturbed the gravity of a Spaniard. How
could it be otherwise ? Most of them had never handled
a musket before: it was not their fault. We passed
Musselborough, where there were encamped an army of
regulars, of from twelve to fifteen thousand men.
The site of the camp was very favorable and the
. whole made an imposing appearance, as we viewed them
from a neighboring eminence. In the afternoon we arri-
ved at Edinburgh, where we separated ; my friend Carr
to his home, the merchant continued his journey to Glas-
gow, and I took up my quarters at McGregor's hotel, next
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144^ REMINISCENCES OF. THE
the Register office, on Pri«pes street, in the new city ;
where I had^welfrfurnished parlor and* bedroom, with
an old*female servant to attend my biding ; but neither
eatables nor drinkables ; those I must provide fdr myself.
The plan was new to me, but I became soon reconciled
to it ; the old domestic received tfce money and my ojders
from me every morning, for marketing, and I gave myself
no further trouble about it, until it was well cooked an<J
handsomely served upon my table. *
After dinner, I walked out to see five thousand volun-
teers go through their exercise, and a sad piece of work
they made of it ; but I saw them frequently after, and
found that they improved fast in discipline. The next
morning my friend, Mr. Carr, for such he really was,
* ^called upon me, and while he was with me, Mr. Consta-
ble, Sir Walter Scott's publisher, Mr. Creech, Doctor
Benjamin Bell, Sir John Ladd, Bart, and a number of
other gentlemen called ; for all this attention I was solely
indebted to Mr. Carr, who the next day went with me to
the Register office, where he introduced me to the Lord
. Provost, Robertson, who remarked to me, that making the
acquaintance of Mr. Carr, would be of more service to
me than letters to half the nobility of Scotland, such was
the high estimation in which he was held by all who
knew him. I cannot quit the Register office without
noticing so excellent an establishment. It was a large,
handsome stone building, with a dome, around which
were innumerable large pigeon holes, each of which con-
tained the titles to an estate, as it had descended from gen-
eration to generation, and the whole fire proof.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YfARS. ^145
I dined with Mr. Carr, wi^h a party of upwards of
twenty, among whom were all those above named. The
only lady at table was Mrs. Carr, w|to, in acts of kind-
ness and attention to her guests, could not be surpassed
by her excellent husband. Her broad Scotch dialect was
rather pleasing than otherwise, in which she was com-
pletely kept in countenance, however, by several of the
gentlemen present This was but the commencement of
a round of entertainments, in which I was in danger of
being killed with kindness. Accustomed as I had been
to hospitality, in Boston, Charleston, London, and other
places, I had never before met with such a flood as
poured in upon me on this occasion.
Sir John Ladd, Bart., lived in the Highlands, where
he had the most extensive sheep walks in the kingdom.
He insisted that I should take a seat with him in his post
chariot and four, and go and spend a week with him on
his estate, an invitation I would readily have accepted,
had it not interfered with other arrangements. Sir John
would not let me off, however, until I agreed to be there
in the month of June, the following year, and with Mr.
Carr, and Doctor Benjamin Bell, go and pass a week
with him. This was acquiesced in by all four of us, but
circumstances, over which I had no control, prevented
my visiting Europe the next year, consequently this, like
many other agreeable anticipations of life, was frustrated.
I was lame, and confined to my room, for three weeki
of the time I was in Edinburgh; but the pleasant loca-
tion of my parlor, looking out upon the beautiful and
fashionable promenade of Princes street, and the London
VOL. I. 13
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146 REMINISCENCES OF THE
papers, which Mr. Carr either brought, or sent to me,
every morning, with the attention of Mr. Constable, who
brought me the first number of the Edinburgh Review,
then but a few weeks published, and other periodicals,
together with a constant flow of visitors, among whom
were Mr. Murray, Consul General of the United States
for Scotland, and Mr. Cassels, vice consul for Leith, who,
with his amiable lady, were old acquaintances, my time
passed quite agreeably. As soon as I was able to go
abroad, Doctor Bell, who attended me professionally, took
me out, to spend the day with him, at his splendid man-
sion, two or three miles from town — the same that had
been the residence of the celebrated Doctor Sandy Mon-
roe. I spent a most agreeable day. During dinner, the
Doctor related the following singular coincidence, which
a German gentleman, who had passed the day with him,
but a few weeks before, related to him. Three years
before, the German was at the bay of Naples, engaged
in taking sketches of its unequalled scenery, when he fell
in with an English gentleman, employed in the same
way. After the slight acquaintance thus brought about
by a similarity of taste, they separated, and their next
meeting was upon the Carlton Hill, near Edinburgh, a
few days before. They recognized each other, and,
upon comparing notes, they found they had been, on the
same day, on the top of the n6w State House, in Boston,
on the Hill of Howth, near Dublin, and upon Richmond
Hill, near London, and always engaged in the same em-
ployment, sketching the beautiful scenery that surrounded
them. They both classed those splendid views in tfce
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 147
following order : first, the Bay of Naples ; second, the
view from the Boston State House ; third, that from
the Carlton Hill ; fourth, from the Hill of Howth ; and
fifth, from Richmond Hill. My knowledge only extends
to three of them, in which I heartily concur with those
gentlemen. On the Carlton Hill I noticed a monument
to the memory of Hume, which was built of large blocks
of stone, bolted to each other, to prevent the Presbyteri-
ans from pulling it down, as I was told.
The Castle of Edinburgh is a national fortress, which
never vomits fire and smoke, save when the Tower of
London sets the example. This happened once while I
was there — the occasion, was the capture, by the British *
forces, of some paltry little island in the West Indies.
Few things, in Edinburgh, attract the attention of the
stranger more forcibly, than the view from the great
bridge, wliich unites the old city with the new. On
looking down over the heavy stone balustrade, upon the
tops of houses built in the ravine below, a distance of
more than a hundred feet, the appearance is most singu-
lar and interesting. The College is a large, modern
stone edifice, having a magnificent portico, the pillars of
which are of uncommon height and size, and each of a
single piece. There were upwards of seventeen hundred
students, and only seventeen of them Americans. From
the college, I went to view the house where Robertson,
the great historian, wrote his immortal works, which
gave an interest to the building, without which, it would
have been unworthy of notice ; but there is something
very pleasing, to my mind, in visiting the living dwell-
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148 REMINISCENCES OF THI
ings of the illustrious dead — it never fails to revive agree-
able reminiscences of their works, or actions, and makes
an agreeable and lasting impression upon the mind.
The houses, in the old town, upon high street, are,
many of them, ten stories high. You enter at the fifth
story, and ascend, or descend, according to the location
of the family you wish to visit. Each story is called a
flat, and contains sufficient room for a genteel family, all
making use of the same stone stairway. The new town,
as it is called, is unquestionably the handsomest city in
Europe, having very broad streets, crossing each other
at right angles, and the houses uniformly .built of hewn
stone, and of an equal height.
Among the acquaintances that I made, beside those
already mentioned, was Capt. Carr, of the army, who had
a brother, a merchant in Charleston. At his table, I met
a large party, among whom were six pair of epaulets.
At this, and the great number of entertainments at which
I was a guest, I never saw a single instance of inebriety ;
they were all marked by a genuine hospitality and good
feeling, such as should ever distinguish the man, and the
gentleman.
Lieutenant-general Vise, the commander-in-chief for
Scotland, occupied the suite of rooms adjoining mine ; and
when the news arrived of the insurrection in Dublin, in
which lord Kil warden lost his life, and for which the great
Emmett suffered upon a scaffold, I was, through his instru-
mentality, furnished with the accounts of passing events.
Vedettes were constantly arriving and departing; the
city was in a perfect uproar ; the council met, and issued
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 149
a most singular order, that " all foreigners, as well Irish-
men as Americans, should appear forthwith before the
Lord Provost, and give an account of themselves, and
their business ; and requiring all inn keepers, and others,
having strangers under their roofs, to give an account of
them."
I had just finished the reading, of this singular order,
when my old servant made her appearance ; and, after
repeated courtesies, stammered out the object of her
visit, which I was already apprised of, from reading the
order. I declined making any explanation to the good
old woman, but satisfied her by saying I would satisfy
the Lord Provost on the subject. She had scarcely left
the room, when my friend Carr entered, and informed me
that he had taken the liberty to call upon the Lord Pro-
vost, and become answerable for me — an act of kindness
which merited, and received, my grateful acknowledg-
ments. In a few moments, the consul-general Murray,
and vice-consul Cassels, entered ; and we all enjoyed a
hearty laugh, at the expense of the honorable council
for having so worded their order.
It was truly amusing for several days, to see the excite-
ment occasioned by this " tempest in a teapot,* as Dr.
Johnson would have called it; but the fact was, the
excitement had so long been kept up, by the appre-
hension of an invasion by the French, that the least addi-
tion to it created the greatest alarm : and well it might;
for there was more than one report of their having
landed.
13*
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150 REMINISCENCES OF THE
A few days after, I took leave of my hospitable friends,
and their beautiful city, and started on a Thursday after-
noon, in the mail coach, direct for London. There was
but one other passenger, an agreeable young Scotchman,
until we arrived at Newcastle, the next morning, where
we breakfasted ; on entering the coach after breakfast,
we found the back seat occupied by a young, clerical
looking gentleman, and a lady. After a while my Scotch
friend and myself, attempted to start a conversation, but
the clerical gentleman not only declined all participation
in it himself, but showed a decided dislike to the lady's
taking any part ; accordingly we kept to ourselves, as
though there had been no one else in the coach.
At ten, at night, we arrived at York, where coaches
from all parts of the United Kingdom meet at that hour,
and depart at twelve.
At the sound of the horn, we entered the coach, and
found the back seat occupied by the lady, and in place of
the reverend gentleman, a man of uncommon size, and a
girl of about ten years. This was contrary to all rule,
which admits but four inside passengers. We frequently
heard the lady complain, during the night, of being incom-
moded ; but the cold reception our civilities had met with
the day before, induced my companion and myself not to
interfere. Soon after day light, in the morning, the coach
stopped, and the huge man and little girl got out, very
much to the satisfaction of those that remained. The
bdy immediately commenced telling us of her sufferings
in the night ; when I told her the reason why we had not
presumed to interfere, was the cold reception our prof-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 151
fered services had met with, the day before, from her
clerical friend, who, she informed me, was attached to the
York cathedral, and under whose protection she was
placed by her friends at Newcastle. He was going no
further than York, and the lady, the Scotch gentleman,
and myself, were going to London ; she to meet her
husband, who had just arrived from St. Petersburgh, and
written to her to join him. We were without other
passengers to the end of our journey, and arrived in Lon-
don the next morning (Sunday) at six o'clock; when
behold the lady's trunk was missing, not having been put
into the coach at York, owing to the inattention of her
friend. A note was dispatched on the waybill, by the
return coach that evening, and I made dilligent inquiry
for a fortnight, but no trunk came, or was heard of; had
her friend been a gentleman, he would have sought our
acquaintance, and commended the lady to our care, when
he knew he was no longer to accompany her ; then her
comfort and convenience would have been attended to,
and her baggage would not have been lost ; but there she
was, three hundred miles from home, without any other
article of dress than she had on, judging from which," the
contents of her trunk must have been valuable. We
never saw her afterwards. There was a common prac-
tice, at the time I speak of, when ladies made a part of
the company in a coach, unaccompanied by a protector,
for the gentlemen to pay their fare at meals. Thus end-
eth my journey to Scotland.
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152 REMINISCENCES OF THE
A VOYAGE TO EUROPE IN 1820:
EMBRACING A TOUR IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE} — THEIR AGRICULTURE — CHIEF
TOWNS — CURIOSITIES — TRIAL OF THE QUEEN — EXCITEMENT — PROCESSIONS,
AC. AC. AC.
Written NoTember, 1838.
In June, 1820, I sailed from New York in the ship
Agnes, commanded by Captain Ogden, a very gentle-
manly, pleasant man. There were but few passengers ;
among them the captain's lady — she was the only
female. The party was a very agreeable one, of whom
one was an aged divine, from Georgia, who preached to us
on Sundays, and pitched dollars with us on Mondays.
It was a very pleasant pastime, and consisted in pitching
a dollar into any one of a series of numbers, which were
arranged like a chequer board, and chalked on the deck ;
he who pitched into the highest, beat. There was no
winning, because there was no betting. The old gentle-
man became very expert at it, and managed with great
address to make his motions conform to those of the
vessel, which was no easy matter, particularly when she
rolled a little. This, together with reading and conver-
sation made time pass quite pleasantly.
Two of our passengers were young English gentle-
men, who had been travelling in the United States. One
of them was a noble hearted fellow, and saw things in
their right light : he was a cotton broker from Liverpool.
The other (who was a cotton spinner from Manchester)
saw things through a different medium, and was given
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 153
to fault-finding with every thing he met with in the
United States, but the birds. He was a great fancier of
birds, and had spent the preceding winter and spring in
Georgia and Florida, shooting them for their skins. He
obtained a collection of some hundreds, of the most beau-
tiful plumage, which he set great store by. It was his
first absence from home, and he complained bitterly of
the American custom-house, for having made him pay
duties on some articles of merchandise he had, apart from
his clothing. I remarked to him, that when he had
passed the ordeal of a custom-house in his own country,
he would probably change his opinion of the conduct of
the Americans in managing theirs.
We arrived at Liverpool on the sixteenth of July,
being twenty years from my first visit to that place. It
was on Sunday ; and the ship being detained at the rock,
waiting for the tide, the captain, who was going to take
his lady to town, politely invited the bird-fancier and
myself to accompany him — an invitation which was
very readily accepted. My friend put on a large outside
coat, with huge pockets, which were completely crammed
with bird skins. Before we had got half way to town, a
custom house barge made its appearance, and rowing up
alongside our boat, began to overhaul it ; I pressed hard
against the pocket next to me, which brought the other
with equal pressure against the inner side of the boat,
and their bulk escaped notice. They found nothing
amiss, and left us ; but my friend, the bird-fancier, was
in a most awful sweat on the occasion, and already began
to think that an American custom-house might not be
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154 REMINISCENCES OF THE
altogether the most difficult in the world to get along
with.
A custom-house officer had come on board the evening
before we left the ship. I had a box of cigars, which
are a prohibited article ; I placed them directly in the
top of my trunk, the lid of which could not be lifted with-
out their being exposed to view.
Before I started for the town, I gave the key of my
trunk to the officer, and with it half a guinea; the next
day my baggage was sent from the custom house, where
it had been taken for examination, to my hotel, and on
opening it I found that not an article had been moved,
while my friend's was turned bottom up, and the remain-
der of his bird skins, which he could not get into his pock-
ets, when he came to town with us, were made prize of;
poor fellow, how he did grieve for the loss ; but the offi-
cers took compassion on him, and gave them up, after
collecting a duty equal to six dollars and a half upon them !
I could not help asking him, which he thought was the
most accommodating; an American, or an English custom
house ? His reply was that he never would complain of
an American custom house again.
I had letters to, and bills on, the Messrs. Rathbone,
who macfa me acquainted with the celebrated Roscoe,
and in every respect treated me like a brother. I found
Liverpool, in my twenty year's absence, had become a
large, fashionable, and in some parts a well built city,
with but few objects to excite the attention of the travelled
stranger. Its town hall, its exchange, its atheneum,
but above all, its botanic garden, are exceptions to this
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*» w>' *
LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 155
remark ; the latter is second only to that of Paris, and
was then kept in admirable order. For these improve-
ments the city is mainly indebted to the public spirit and
enterprize of Mr. Roscoe.
On the 20th, Mr. Tattersal (the cotton broker before
mentioned) invited all the passengers to dine with him, at
his charming villa at Everton, a few miles from town,
and beautifully situated. Here I met with a hearty
English welcome, and every luxury the season afforded.
* It is here proper to mention, that the object of my
voyage was agricultural; to see their farming, and to
procure such agricultural seeds, implements and books,
as were not to be found in the United States.
The Sunday after my arrival, I went to hear the
celebrated Mr. Raffles, a dissenting minister, and was not
a little surprised to find his pulpit occupied by my cler- 1
ical fellow passenger from Georgia. After service, by
previous invitation, I rode out with Mt Richard Rath-
bone, to Mrs. Dowager Rathbone's (his mother's) country
house, nine miles from town, where we met a select party
of about a dozen, including the three Mrs. Rathbones*
and the Roscoes, father and son ; (this was the third din-
ner party to meet this gentleman, but circumstances pre-
vented his presence at the two former.) The JJathbones
are of the society of Friends, although they do not adhere
strictly to their costume. They have a custom, which
does honor to human nature, which they do not permit
the presence of company to interfere with. At nine
o'clock, having first asked the permission of their guests,
the servants, eight in number, were summoned to the
■ +
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*.
156 REMINISCENCES OF THE
drawing room, and being seated, Mr. Richard Rathbone
read a sermon, which was listened to by all present with
the most profound silence. The servants then retired,
and conversation was resumed.
At ten o'clock, supper was announced, and'all repaired
to the table, which was bountifully spread ; but food for
the body did not appear to be the object. There was
very little eating, and it at once gave place to conversa-
tion; which was kept up with great spirit, until past
twelve, when all retired. I rose at day light and went to
the hay-field ; the morning was fine, and u the ripe har-
vest of the new mown hay was pleasing to the sense." I
continued talking with the hay-makers, until William
Rathbone came to bid me to the breakfast parlor, where
the rest of the company had already assembled. At ten,
the carriages were all drawn up, and the company
Mr. Rathboap very politely gave me my choice, to
mount the curricle with him, or take a seat in the chariot
with his lady. My inclination, leaving gallantry out of
the question, prompted me to accept the latter. Add to
which, the lady was of great beauty, and amiable as
"beautiful. .. In the afternoon, I took leave of my Liverpool
friends, {flrith the understanding, that after my return
from France, I should spend a fortnight with them,) and
went to Manchester, by the coach, thirty-six miles, in
four hours, and took lodgings at the Albion. The land
between Liverpool and Manchester, that was fit for culti-
vation, was almost all of it in grass or potatoes ; the lat-
ter in drills, not eighteen inches apart ; but there is an
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEA18, ^ J57
extensive tract of peat moss upon this road, which had
never been subjected to the plough. Also, some gtood,
and much bad farming. Lands six niles from Manches-
ter, rented at from thirty, to forty shillings per acre, and
sold at thirty year's purchase.
The next day I viewed the town, and many of the
large cotton factories, accompanied by my bird-fancying
friend. Took a walk in the afternoon to the extensive
calico printing establishment of Mr. Baily, three miles
from town. On my way, noticed a large herd of cows,
of the broad-horned breed, and of great size — their value
about sixteen guineas each. They give a large quantity
of milk. The operation of calico printing was new to
me. Mr. Baily took me through his extensive works,
and explained every thing in the most obliging manner,
giving me reason to be highly gratified with my little
excursion. As agriculture was the great object I had in
view, I must not let any thing pass inArelation to that
subject. Green clover was selling in the streets at four
pence for sixteen pounds ; and hay at four pounds per
ton. Passing " the Old Baily," I found the magistrate's
court was in session. I entered. The body of the room
was crowded with spectators, who had no seats. I was
shown to a seat, and in the course of an hour, heard six
separate trials, convictions, and sentences ; this was doing
business at a rapid rate. But what took my attention
most, was the sentence passed upon a boy of about thir-
teen, who had upset an old woman's fruit stall, and stolen
some of her pennies. His sentence was, "to be se vere-
VOL.L M
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158 REMINISCENCES OF THE
ly whipped; put to hard labor in the house of correction
one month ; then whipped again, and discharged ! n
Having visited the different factories in Manchester,
there is little to excite the attention of the traveller, ex-
cept the slavery of the operatives in those factories, who
are excluded from breathing the common air ; and yet
these people prate about the slavery of the negroes, who
do not work as many hours, are as well clothed, and bet-
ter, far better, fed, and have no thought for the morrow,
what they shall eat, drink, or put on. But the philan-
thropists of England, with Wilberforce at their head,
were so much taken up with the poor negroes, that they
entirely lost sight of the poor slaves of their own country,
and color, and blood. I have lived in slave states for
more than thirty years, yet never saw a tithe of the mis-
ery and wretchedness that these factories vomited forth
at the ringing of the dinner bell. The miserable, squallid
appearance of q)pu, women, and children, was enough to
sicken the heart of any one not habituated to it. They
had not half enough of the most common food to sustain
life, with labor, and enjoy health. There were thousands
of men and women, of, and past the middle age, who had
never been ten miles from the town, so complete was
their slavery from childhood.
In 1805, I, with my partners, tty Messrs. Olney, built
the fifth cotton manufactory in the United States, at Pro-
vidence ; at which time, there was but one man in the
Union, (except Mr. Slater, who, with Almy & Brown,
built the three first factories,) who could make drawings
for cotton machinery. This man we got to make draw-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEA*BS. 159
ings for us by stealth, until, by writing to a friend at Liv-
erpool, we got a man smuggled out from Manchester to
Boston. His name was Ogden, and he was the first man
who ever set up a machine shop in the United States, to
teach the art of making machinery for the manufacturing
of cotton. To abduct a manufacturer from England, in
those days, was no trifling offence. When it was dis-
covered, at Manchester,, that Ogden had made his escape
to America, his wife and children were turned out of
employment, and came upon the parish. This did not
last long, for as soon as he arrived, we sent for them.
July 27. — Left Manchester in the 12 o'clock coach for
Leeds, in Yorkshire. The first town we entered was
Oldham — here the woollen manufactures commenced.
From thence we passed over a very hilly country, and
extensive moors of peat moss, interspersed with numer-
ous grazing farms, but no cornfields. The buildings and
fences were all of stone, for many mik^ enclosing exten-
sive vales and hill sides, in lots, not one of which exceed-
ed five acres, and most of them not two. We next ar-
rived at Huddersfield, a well built town, all of stone. —
The humble dwellings of the poor, in the town, and upon
the road to, and from it, were very neat ; not so the hun-
dreds of children, whose looks were cadaverous, and for
rags and dirt, I neve* saw their equals ; add to this, their
savage manner, as they ran by dozens, and in some instan-
ces, for more than a mile, by the coach side, calling upon
us, more like robbers, than beggars, for half pence. —
From Huddersfield to Leeds, a fine country, abounding
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ICO llMUflSCENCXI OV TH1
in rich and highly cultivated vales, covered with fields of
grain,
Leeds, July 28. — Spent the forenoon walking about the
town, which had some good buildings, and a few good
streets, with a population of 70,000. It, like Manchester,
was increasing. Indeed, the number of new houses and
factories, from Manchester to this place, struck me with
astonishment* The time I am here speaking of, was
immediately preceding the trial of Queen Caroline, and
the following expression of opinion, which, as far as
silence gives consent, was concurred in by all present
but one, could not fail to excite my attention. A gen-
tleman at breakfast, in the public room, which was full,
asserted roundly, that " he did not believe there was a
worse man in the kingdom, than the king" One present
demurred ; on which the gentleman asked him to name
any good action that was ever done by his majesty ; and
stated that at Afeot Heath, a few days before, when the
king came on the ground he was not noticed, and some
of his attendants called upon the people to cheer him,
but without effect Afternoon, started for York, where
I arrived at seven o'clock, and went to the theatre,
where I saw George Barnwell murdered.
July 29. — Attended court, and heard Brougham and
Scarlet in ** the great Iron case," Barron Bailey presiding.
Many ladies of the first distinction present Went from
there to the Messrs. Backhouse, to whom I had letters,
viewed their nursery of forest trees, about seventy acres,
among which were three millions of larches, a tree, the
timber of which is much used for boards and other pur-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 161
poses ; they were sown in drills, in beds all of a size,
and the number ascertained by counting a square yard
of one of them ; they were then about six inches high ;
when of a size to transplant into the forest, they sell for
a shilling each. One of the Messrs. Backhouse travelled
nearly the whole time to get orders for these and other
forest trees.
These gentlemen are of the society of Friends. I
took a family dinner with them, and then went and
viewed the magnificent Minster, being among the largest
cathedrals in Europe. I had not seen it since my return
from Scotland in 1803. Its architecture is of the middle
age of the English Gothic. The title by which its large
possessions are held, is an ivory tusk, on which it is
engraved in the ancient Saxon character. Before Crom-
well's time, this cathedral was very rich ; among other
valuables, were the statues of the twelve apostles, all six
feet high, of solid silver. Cromwell journeyed that way,
and took a fancy to them, observing, " your divine mas-
ter instructed you to go up and down in the world, doing
good in it ; and I will see that you fulfil his commands."
They were immediately put upon their travels to the
mint. The only articles remaining, that I recollect as
worth noticing, are a gigantic silver mace, and one of
Saint Peter's finger rings, which, if I had not seen, I
should not have known that he had ever worn any. I
returned to the Messrs. Backhouse, and spent the eve-
ning and supped there. They lived very plain.
Sunday, July 30. — Went to the cathedral. After
the sermon, procured the key from the sexton, and as-
14*
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162 RBMINIICENCES OF JH1
cended to the top of the great Tower, two hundred and
sixty feet high, and fifty square. The weather was unu-
sually warm, and even at that height there was very
little air stirring. I sat there upwards of an hour, con-
templating the beautiful scenery that surrounded me on
every side, as far as the eye could reach, over one of the
richest and best cultivated vales in England. The
solemn sounds of the deep-toned organ, from the choir
below, vibrating upon my ear, were the only ones that
broke in upon the solemn stillness of the scene ; for a
moment, I lost sight of the beauties that lay in such pro-
fusion at my feet, and my mind was borne upwards to
the throne of the Eternal I rejoiced that there was no
thoughtless impertinence to break in upon the delightful
vision, and regretted there was no congenial mind to
share it with me.
York is a city of great antiquity, and has much to
attract the attention of such travellers as do not visit
places merely to say they have been there. It was once
the seat of the government of the Roman Empire ; two
emperors were buried here, Severus and Constantius.
The ancient citadel and a portion of the walls are yet
standing. Innumerable Roman coins, some of them of
great antiquity, have been dug up here at various times,
and would have formed a collection of great value, had
they been all kept together; but they were sold to the
purious from all parts of Europe. Only a few days
before I arrived here, two were dug up that were over
two thousand years, old* In the castle, I saw the skull of
Clarke, who was murdered by Eqgene Aram, which
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEAKS. 168
gave rise to the popular novel of that name, by Bulwer.
There was also a fine ruin of an old abbey; and another
of King James' palace, in which hogs were kept What
a lesson for human vanity ! The celebrated grammarian,
Lindley Murray, was living just out of the city at the
time I was there ; but 1 was not informed of this fact
until it was too late for me to profit by it
Monday, July 31. — Took leave of the Backhouse
family, and mounted on the outside of a coach ; the
weather was delightful, and the coach was admirably
constructed — attached to the body behind, was a settee
large enough to contain three persons with convenience,
one of whom isalways the conductor, who has charge
of the whole concern. It is sufficiently elevated to per-
mit the occupants to see over the heads of the driver and
those who may be seated with him, thus affording an
uninterrupted view of the fine country over which I was
passing.
The grain in many places, as I approached Newark,
was fit for the sickle ; while in Yorkshire it was quite
green, and more than half lodged. It depended on the
continuance of such fine weather, whether they made a
great crop, or not half of one. Numerous fields of
turnips, in the highest state of cultivation, some in drills
eighteen inches apart, and some broad cast, were to
be seen in all directions. But few potatoes, and not
one patch of ruta baga or Swedish turnip, in the whole
day's ride. There was some very ordinary land, but
much more that was very good.
Passed through Tadcaster and Doncaster, the latter as
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164 REMINISCENCES OF THE
beautiful a country town as there is in England, and cele-
brated for its horse racing ; also, through a number of
other towns and villages, not deserving particular note,
arrived at Newark about sunset, and staid there until the
mail coach came along next morning at ten.
Newark, August 1st. — Spent the morning in viewing
the town, and such objects as were pointed out to me as
deserving of the traveller's notice, the principal one of
which was the ruins of the old castle, in which King John
was confined; he who had occupied a palace and found
it quite small enough, was here confined in a dungeon,
six feet by four, in which he died. Who would be a king
on such terms ? There is a subterranean passage from
this castle, which passes under the town, extending a mile
to a priory. The entrance to it had been closed up for
a hundred and fifty years, to prevent its becoming the
resort of banditti.
At ten o'clock, the Edinburgh mail coach came along,
and I took a seat in it for London. The fields of grain I
saw to-day, were not very promising, and much lodged.
The weather continued fine, and the harvest had began.
The country I passed through was good, bad, and indif-
ferent, a large portion of the latter.
In the neighborhood of New Market and Cambridge,
great efforts had been made use of to raise cover, suffi-
cient for hares and rabbits, hundreds of which were to be
seen by the road side, and passing in every direction,
back and forth, affording the most tempting opportunities
to the coachman, to knock them over with his whip.
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IiAST SIXTY-FITS TEARS. 165
which no doubt he would have done, had he not seen
Botany Bay in the distance.
As I only stopped to dine at Cambridge, I had no
opportunity of visiting the colleges, which I had visited
seventeen years before; I continued my journey all
night, and arrived in London at six o'clock, on Wednes-
day morning, the second of August.
London, August 2d. — Called on Mr. Rush, the then
American minister, to whom I had letters — he receiv-
ed me very civilly. I there met Mr. Middleton, our
minister to Russia, with whom I had long been acquainted.
He left New York three days before me, and was spend-
ing some tihie in London, on his way to St. Petersburgh.
On my way to Mr. Rush's, in Portman street, Port-
man square, I saw a large collection of well dressed
people, gathered in front of a very plain, three story
house, and inquired the cause — the answer was, "the
queen lives there." I looked up and saw her at the win-
dow; a large and rather masculine looking woman,
plainly dressed. She had returned from the continent a
short time before. Alderman Wood went after her, and
attended her like her shadow. She soon after took an
elegant house at Hammersmith, some six miles from
London, where she continued pending her trial, and, I
believe, until her death.
August 4th. — Walked and rode about the city a great
part of the day. It had greatly increased in population,
and improved in splendor, since last I saw it ; particu-
larly in the building of Regent street, the Quadrant, &c.
Called upon a number of old friends, who gave me a
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166. REMINISCENCES OF THE
hearty welcome, and from them learned that many others
whom I used to ijifcet at the hospitable board, had gone
to their account.
Having spent a few days among my old friends, and
put my orders for agricultural books, seeds, and impl*
ments in hand, I left London for Brighton, fifty-six miles
distant, on the coast of Sussex. The land on this road,
at least a great portion of it, is not very good. That
part nearest London is highly cultivated, for the London
market, and the means to do it with are obtained from
the city. The farming is not as good as in Yorkshire.
I saw a number of fields of mangel wurtzel, the first in my
tour, but no ruta baga, notwithstanding Mr. Gobbet's
great encomiums upon this root, and very just ones too,
(as I know by experience,) there was not one to be seen.
The weather continued fine, and the harvest was nearly
completed.
Brighton had more than doubled in population, and
tripled in elegance, since last I saw it, in 1803. It was
the favorite bathing place and summer residence of
George the Fourth. The * Oriental" palace, which was
built by George the Fourth, when Prince of Wales, was
rather unique in its appearance, and from its numerous
minerets and domes, resembled a Turkish mosque, quite
as much as it did the residence of a monarch. The Stien
was a pretty public walk, but not to be compared to the
battery, in New York, or the mall, in Boston. The races
at this place are among the best attended, and most fash-
ionable in England.
August 8th, 8 p. m. — Went on board a schooner,
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-t
which was dignified with the name of" Packet," although
its appearance and accommodations ftery little surpassed
an eastern fishing schooner. Up to the period here
spoken of, there were no steamboats plying between Eng-
ird and France. It was Friday evening, and the cap-
tain told us we should be landed in Dieppe, in Normandy,
eighty-five miles from Brighton, the next morning. He
had provided nothing for the passengers, who, expecting
to be found, had provided nothing for themselves. This
was not my case, however ; I had looked at the vessel in
the forenoon, and provided myself accordingly, with a
large quarter of cold roast lamb, with bread and a sal-
lad, half a dozen of porter, and two or three bottles of
port. I had a companion, a gentleman from South Car-
olina. The next morning, Saturday, instead of being
landed at Dieppe, we were not out o^sight of Brighton ;
nor did we arrive at Dieppe until Sunday, at four P. M.
Fortunately there were no ladies, and only six gentlemen
of us. I cheerfully shared my provisions with the others,
and " felt the luxury of doing good."
The first thing that struck me on landing, was the sight
of a large cross, some twenty feet high, to which was
nailed a colossal statue, intended to represent our Savior.
The wharf, at the end of which it was located, affords an
evening promenade to the inhabitants. In my half
starved situation, the first thing to look for was a good
hotel, which I met with at the head of the wharf, kept by
an Englishman, in the English style. After partaking of
an excellent dinner, I joined the company at the prom-
enade.
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M6 B1MINI8CBHCE8 OF THE
■** *
-Next morning, Monday, walked about the town, enter-
ed a number of shops, in each of which were a variety of
productions in ivory, for the manufacture of which this
town has been celebrated for more thgp two thousand
years ; some of them were of surpassing beauty ; paj§|pc-
ularly a copy of Raphael's taking down from the cross,
wrought in bas relief, upon a single tusk, with all the fig-
ures perfect The price of this beautiful article was but
ten dollars, but I dare not purchase it, as I was to return
to England, where it would be taken from me.
My attention was particularly called to notice but one
other/ object, and that was, the ladies' caps ; they are all
of white linen, of a uniform pattern, differing only in
fineness. They ascend from the top of the head in a
conical form, to the height of nearly a foot, have long
ears, and are tied jjnder the chin. This fashion, among
the women of Normandy, has prevailed for centuries,
and wherever they go they adhere to it Thus, in Paris,
if you see a woman with such a cap on, no matter what
her situation in life, she is from Normandy.
My baggage had been taken to the custom house for
examination, where I repaired, at ten o'clock, to get it,
and procure a passport. A laughable circumstance occur-
red there. We had all passed examination, but a young
gentleman by the name of Thelluson, a noble hearted fel-
low, and descendant of him who made such an extraor-
dinary will some fifty years ago ; he was going to spend
some time upon the continent, with his servant, curricle,
horses, and dogs. He was stout made, and had on loose
Nankeen trousers, which made him appear much larger
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than he really was. The custom house officers thought
they had got a prize, supposing that his person was
enveloped in British contraband goods ; they examined
him very closely to his great annoyance, which irritated
him, and the company had a hearty laugh at his expense.
The examination being gone through with, we took our
seats by turns, while our passports were made out, con-
taining a minute account of our persons, faces, ages, Sic
This being done with, we, five' in number, mounted the
carriage which we had hired to take us to Rouen, distant
forty-four miles, at the head of navigation, upon the bank
of the Seine, and the second city of France.
We had not progressed but a few miles, when one of
the crane necks, from which the carriage was suspended,
broke, and we came down upon the axle-tree. There
was no house near. Our driver left jjbe box, and began
to make a great splutter, but knew not how to remedy
the accident. I enquired if there was any cord in the
box, that could be made use of, on the occasion, and found
there was plenty, with hammer, hatchet, Sec. Two of
the English gentlemen, then undertook to repair it, but
soon abandoned the job. I then took it in hand, and in
ten minutes had the splints applied, and made secure with
the cord, which enabled us to reach Rouen in perfect
safety. The next morning, to my surprise, I saw the
same carriage leave the city, on its return, with six pas-
sengers, and in the same condition in which I left it. Our
*oute between the two cities, (Dieppe and Rouen,) lay
through a beautiful and highly cultivated country. Wq
vol. l is
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170 REMINISCENCES OF THE
saw large fields of lucerne, sown broad cast ; this, and red
clover, constituted a large portion of the crop. There
was no change of horses in the whole distance ; and,
although the day was hot, they were ntver watered but
once, and that at the half-way house, where \Ve dined.
The driver informed us that they never watered horses
only when they fed them, and then not until they had
eaten. He first took off their harness, then walked them
about, until they were cool, then washed their faces,
throwing the water up their nostrils, until they were tho-
roughly cleansed. While they were eating, he rubbed
them down ; and before they were hitched up, gave them
as much water as they would drink. With this treat-
ment, they performed the journey, and arrived at the end
of it, before sunset, perfectly fresh. Let this treatment
be generally adored in the United States, and it wiH
save thousands of valuable horses, annually, that are now
killed by the pernicious practice of giving them water
every few miles, and that, too, when they are warm.
Rouen, August 15. — Having first procured a valet du
place, I started to make the tour of the city, which
covered less ground, by one half, than any, of its popu-
lation, (then about 180,000,) I ever saw. It was a great
church holyday, and the shops were all closed after ten.
The streets, generally speaking, were very narrow. I
measured the principal business street, in several places:
4ti greatest breadth was sixteen, its least, twelve, feet —
I lodged at the Hotel Vattel. In the neighborhood of it,
was the square, in the centre of which the Maid of Or-
leans was burnt to death, by order of the Duke of Bed-
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LAST 8IXTY-FIVE . YEARS. 171
ford The spot on which she suffered, has long been
occupied by a monumental statue of her. The cruel
tyrant compelled her to stand in a projecting window, at
one corner of the square, and see her funeral (Hie erected.
I next visited the house in which Voltaire wrote his
poem of " The Maid of Orleans ;" and then to the house •
in which the two Corneilles' were born. From thence to
the convent of St Owen, a very large building, which
boasted its statues and its pictures, before the Revolution,
but soon after its commencement, was transformed into
a blacksmith's shop, with a great number of forges, which
were employed for making pikes, and other implements
of war.
Before the Revolution, there were thirty-two parish
churches in Rouen. During that event, the number was
reduced to thirteen. A number of the largest of them, I
saw used as stables, and in the gable end of one of them,
over the hay loft, upqn the wall, was a good painting of
the Saviour on the cross ! In the afternoon, I was fully
employed in looking at an immense religious procession,
and the thousands of spectators, who were engaged the
same way. It marched through the principal streets,
beaded by the archbishop, in his robes of state, made of
cloth of gold, of Lyons, the long train of which was
borne by three monks. On his head he wore the mitre,
while from his hands he sprinkled those nearest to him
with holy water. He was under the middle size ; and a
more venerable looking man, or a more benevblent coun-
tenance, I never beheld. He was followed by a great
number of the inferior clergy, and members of the differ-
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172 BBMIlf IJSCEWCB8 OF THB
ent religious houses. There was perfect order among
the multitude, but no kneeling. I could not help observ-
ing the neatness of dress, and modest deportment of the
numerous beautiful and interesting women, the occasion
brought into the streets. I entered the Cathedral, before
the procession, and took a stand near the great altar, and
remained there during the performance of mass. This
would not have been permitted before the Revolution.—
This Cathedral was built by William the Conqueror,
before his invasion of England, and was remarkable for
having one of its two great towers built without cement
of any kind. It was burnt, about six or eight years ago,
but has been rebuilt, or is building. When I left the
church, I walked to St. Catherine's mount, which imme-
diately overlooks the city, and adjacent country. There
was a spiral path to its summit, which I reached with
some difficulty; but was smply repaid, in the great
beauty of the scene that surrounded me. The sun was
near setting, and the multitude was returning from a vil-
lage on the other side of the river, over a bridge of most
singular construction, the invention of a monk. It is
built upon boats, and forms a complete paved street. In
the promenades of the people, who frequent it in great
numbers, the stranger would not know but that he was
travelling on solid ground. There is a portion of it, in
the middle, which is slid out, to pass vessels — the vessel,
is passed, and it is replaced in less than ten minutes.
Rouen is to France, what Manchester is to England,
the head quarters of cotton manufacturing. This article
is brought up the river, from Havre, in vessels of a light
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LAST SIXTY-FITS TEARS. 173
draught of water. There are numerous other factories,
beside those of cotton, in the neighborhood of the city ;
among them I noticed some very extensive, for paper*
The country on the opposite side of the river, is singu-
larly beautiful. The hills rise with a gentle ascent to a
considerable height, and in summer, exhibit one uninter-
rupted surface of the various shades of green, produced
by the different kinds of grain and grasses, without the
intervention of fence, hedge, or ditch. The French law,
or custom, I know not which, gives rise to a singular
mode of dividing real estate. For instance : — if a man
have three sons, and three pieces of land, instead of giv-
ing each of them one, he divides each piece among the
three ; thus multiplying the number of land proprietors
to an almost incalculable extent, until there are separate
properties, some of which are so small they cannot be
ploughed, there not being room enough to turn the plough
upon them ! I was indebted to my eyes for the sight of
this fact, and to Mr. Gallatin, our then minister to the
court of France, for the explanation of it. More of that
gentleman hereafter. There are but about two hundred
thousand land-holders in England and Wales, while in
France there are more than ten times that number. The
facts above stated, account for the difference.
Wednesday, August 16. — Left Rouen at five A. M. f
on the top of the Diligence, for Paris, distant ninety-six
miles. The country, for several miles, is very hilly, so
much so, as to cause them to increase the number of
horses from four to five, six, and even seven ; the addi-
tional ones being hitched on promiscuously, instead of
15*
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174 KEMllf ISCElf CE8 OF THE
being in order, ahead of the regular team. I did not see
an altered one among hundreds. The Norman horses
exceed all others, for every purpose, except only for fleet-
ness ; in that particular, they are surpassed by the Ara-
bian. It- was the heavy cavalry of France, mounted on
Norman horses, and led on by Murat, that won a large
portion of the victories of Napoleon. There is scarcely
a nation in Europe who have not some of them in their
service. Desaix, with his flying artillery, drawn by
Norman horses, was enabled to turn the tide of victory
in favor of Napoleon, at Marengo, which, but for this
circumstance, instead of a victory, would have been a
most disastrous defeat. So, too, at Dresden, Napoleon
owed his victory to his cavalry, and they to their Nor-
man horses. The gens cParmes, throughout France, are
mounted on those noble animals, and I am surprised that
pains have not been taken to introduce them into the
United States.
Our road lay near the river (Seine) a great part of
the time. The day was warm and very dusty; the
country in a high state of cultivation. The roads are
all paved, similar to our streets, and kept in complete
repair — no hedge, ditch, or fence ; and instead of forest
trees, there were apple, pear, peach and other fruit trees,
planted by their sides, from which we could gather the
fruit as we rode, and did so.
One peculiarity in France, is their agriculturists living
in compact villages of a single street, and not a few with
grape vines running up the fronts of their houses. The
reason for their living thus compactly in villages, instead
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 175
of being located upon their farms, as in England and the
United States, which would be much more convenient
to their labor, had its origin in the danger that existed
from wild beasts, that roamed the royal forests in great
numbers before the revolution of '89, and frequently
made inroads by night into the villages, and even into
the towns that were not protected by walls — making
great havoc with the gardens, fruits, and domestic animals,
and sometimes destroying the villagers themselves. This
circumstance occurred at Chantilly, in 1788, on the estate
of the Prince of Conde, the forests of which then extend-
ed upwards of eighty miles ; — since the revolution, they
have been reduced more than half; and numerous farms
and villages, and mills, giving subsistence and employ-
ment to thousands, have taken their place. We passed
a large drove of swine this day, and the only one I saw
in France. They were of a long lank breed, such as I
should not recommend to American agriculturists.
Having got over the hills of Normandy, our team was
reduced to the usual number of four horses. We had
already travelled a long stage, and our horses were cov-
ered with sweat and dust, when we drove up to an inn :
the conductor, who had been sitting by my side, immedi-
ately descended and entered, (the driver kept his seat,)
and I looked, expecting to see the water bucket in motion ;
instead of which he brought out a bottle, and with the
contents washed the face and nostrils of each horse, and
then threw a little up their nostrils. He was absent
from his seat but a few minutes, when we started again,
our horses going as lively as if just out of the stable. I
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176 REMINISCENCES OF THE
enquired what it was he had made use of? the answer,
was, vinegar. In an hour after, we stopped to dinner at
a town, the name of which I did not learn.
There were twenty at dinner, which was excellent,
and a bottle of good wine between every two plates
round the table, with a dessert of fruit, and all for two
francs per head. We then quit Normandy, and entered a
vine growing country. The vines generally stood about
three feet and a half high, and the bunches of grapes
Extended from the top to the ground, and lodged upon it
in many instances. This is not the great wine district
of France ; that is in the south. We arrived at the
plain of Sablons about dusk, famous for horse racing ;
and it was nine o'clock when we reached the stage office
in Paris. I took lodgings at Murice's, which Planta, in
his picture of Paris says, is the best hotel in Europe. He
was a British under Secretary of State, and knew what
constituted a good hotel.
Paris, August 17. — In brder to iftake the most of
my time while engaged in viewing the city and adjacent
country, I every night, before retiring, laid down the plan
of my next day's journey, as they were called by my
valet du place, who was an intelligent man, and spoke the
English language fluently ; he attended me in all my ram-
bles, so that I had no difficulty in getting the most correct
information. I first visited the halls of legislation, and
had cause to regret they were not in session ; therefore I
could only view the spacious apartments and their furni-
ture, while their arrangements, when the two houses
were in session, were distinctly pointed out to me by my
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 177
conductor. In point of magnificence* they cannot com-
pare with those of the capitol at Washington. The cus-
tom they have in the Chamber of Deputies, of members,
when going to address the Chamber, leaving their seats
and entering the tribune, which is a kind of box immedi-
ately in front of the president, must sometimes create great
confusion, particularly when several start for it at once,
which not unfrequently happens.
From thence I went to the court house — a civil suit
was in process, which was conducted in a manner alto-
gether new to me. After the pleadings of counsel were
finished, the judge left the bench, and came down and
conversed with the counsel on the subject, while the
jurors were present In this state of the case, I left the
house, and crossing the square saw the pillory erected,
only a foot, or two from the ground, and four men made
fast to it, not as in the United States, but by a collar
round their necks ; their hands being tied behind them,
they stood, apparently, at their ease, lolling against the
post in the centre, and joking and laughing at each other.
On the back of each was a label, in large letters, setting
forth the crimes for which they were being punished.
I passed on to the town hall, in front of which is
the celebrated lamp iron, from which great numbers
were suspended, without trial, by the mob, in the
dark days of the first revolution. It is impossible to
visit this spot, and some others which I shall speak of
hereafter, without calling to mind the innumerable scenes
of horror that were perpetrated on it. Here every
natural tie was cut asunder, not merely with indifference,
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178 ' REMINISCENCE! OF TH1
but with a fiend-like joy and malignity, at which humanity
shuddered. Here children witnessed the cold-blooded
murder of their fathers, as in sport ; wives of their hus-
bands, and sisters of their brothers. At the cry of " a la
lanierne" thousands of miserable victims were seized upon
in the streets, in their houses, in their beds, at the altar —
there was no sanctuary, no place of refuge for them —
and hurried away to the fetal lamp iron, by fiends ip
human shape, the Jacobins of that day. I pray God that
if the seeds of similar scenes are already being sown in
this country, I may not live to see the harvest
It was worthy of note, the manner in which the Paris-
ians spoke of Napoleon at the time of my visit, (1820.)
I was viewing the immense wine markets built by him,
and asked my conductor who was the author? The
answer w$b "Aedid it," — and so of innumerable other
improvements, a similar question was followed by a sim-
ilar answer, never naming him. They dared not trust
themselves in doing it, lest their feelings should get the
. better of their judgment, and they should comrhit them-
selves. In fact, almost every thing that was great and
grand, not only in Paris, but in Trance, owed its origin
to Napoleon, or Louis the Fourteenth.
At the time here spoken of, Paris was but a smothered
volcano, and it required but a slight stretch of the imagin-
ation, to suppose you felt the hot lava beneath your feet.
But a few weeks before the Duke de Bern had been
assassinated, as he came out of tha theatre. The guards
in the neighborhood of the theatres were doubled, and the
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4 LAST SIXTY-FIVE TSARS. 179
4- * %
people, the reflecting part of them, seemed almost afraid
to speak, except in whispers.
While the public mind was in this feverish state, one
Saturday night, a regiment of the royal guards revolted;
On Sunday morning, my valet came into my room, in
great trepidation, and whispered the important fact in my
ear, and at the same time informed me it had been quelled
with little difficulty. The barriers, however, had been
shut on one side of the city. The only notice taken of it,
was the sending them into the country the nfext morning.
I stood at the end of the bridge to see them pass, when
they all appeared in high spirits. '
The next Sunday, his majesty, Louis the Eighteenth,
ordered a review of all the guards, including the Swiss,
in front of the palace, and it was understood that all the
great officers of government, civil and military, would be
present. I was anxious to see how this review would
terminate, and consulted my host upon the subject, who
told me to write a note to the prefect of the palace, and
he would send a servant with that and my passport I
did so, and received a ticket of admission. The great
hall at the head of the state stair case, was nearly full,
and when the king's approach was announced, the grand
marshall arranged them in the order in which they were
to stand, as he passed between them. He was extremely
fat, and clumsy, and had the gout withal, so that he was
obliged to have a supporter 4>n each side ; he nodded, for
it could not be called bowing, as he passed, and entering
the adjoining room, he took his seat, and was trundled out
upon the balcony. The military evolutions then commen-
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180" REMINIf PENCE! OF TH1
ced, a§d were gone through with without any unpleasant
occurrence. At the close, after paying the marching
salute, the troops, as in duty bound, gave three cheers.
At ftis moment a young gentleman, with the eagle of
the legion of honor at his button hole, with whom I
had had some conversation, proposed to rqe to go down
with him, into the great square, (where an immense mul-
titude had assernNed,) and get the people to cheer. In a
minute we were there; he mounted an elevation, and,
calling upoijfcfhe peope to cheer, he set them the example,
by huzzaing with all his strength, but it did not take ;
there were but few responses. This satisfied me that the
king was very unpopular, and the day was not very dis-
tant, whea {here would be an outbreaking of the popu-
lace. This did Hot happen, however, from the strict
watch that wfcs kept over them, until he had been gath-
ered to his fethers, and Charles the Tenth reigned in his
stead.
A day or two after my arrival, I called on Mr. Galla-
tin, our then minister, to whom I had an introduction, who
received me with an ease and affability I had not been
accustomed to witness in men in his high station. I had
never seen him before, but found myself as completely at
ease with him in a few minutes, as if I had known him
for years, and I have no hesitation in saying that he
gave me as much insight into the then political state of
Europe, in 01 ig,
in a month. th
him the next
The next i a
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* LAST SIXTY-FITS YIAR8. * 181
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descent into the Catacombs. There were about^wenty
ladies and gentlemenV the party, and each carried a wax
taper, not simply to afford light for seeing the objects
that were arranged there, but to light ourselves batik' to
earth again ; for being once caught in the dark, in those
subterranean regions, the chance of ever seeing light
again, would be rather doubtful. They extend for miles,
and the numerous turns and avenues "Ibrm a labyrinth
from which it would be next to impossible to escape, but
that a black line is drawn from the entiranfl^ over your
head, which, while kept in view, is a safe and sure guide. 4
back from whence you came.
The different avenues are very irregular, both in their
height and breadth, sometimes compelling ^oy to stoop
in a narrow passage, while at others fou fpu^i yourself
beneath a dome of twenty or thirty feet "in height, and
spread out to as great or greater distance:. The first
object that strikes the attention, is the sculls, of which
there were then about three millions and a half, piled up
in rows, to the top, or as far as could be reached ; such
as were remarkable for any natural defect, or injury, were
put by themselves, for more minute observation than the
mass required.
The student of anatomy had here an opportunity of
perfecting himself, in a knowledge of the human skull, no
where else to be met with, and the very first sight of them
would put a phrenologist in |p ecstasy. Among them we
observed several of natural bdra'idiots, of most singular
structure ; one of them particularly, bore a strong resem-
blance to a oone with the apex broken, off. After these
vol. t is
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182 REMINISCENCES OF THE *
came Ihe bones of the thigh, leg, upper, and then lower
joint of the arm, each by themselves, in regular order.
Of these, such as were remarkable were selected and pla-
ced ty themselves. There was a bone of an arm that had
been broken about three inches from the wrist, which, for
want of being set, had lapped over upwards of two inches,
and grown together perfectly solid. Having completed
our subterranean* tour, we once more emerged to the
light of day. «
The smellf from this mass of human remains, was not
„ very disagreeable, although of a very singular odour. I
have been told that the catacombs have been closed ever
since 1821 ; fofr an obvious reason, to prevent their being
occupied by banditti, or the mob. The origin of these
catacombs is worthy of particular notice. At the darkest
period of the first revolution, amidst scenes of blood and
carjiage, a very fatal disease broke out in a section of
the city containing a large portion of the burial grounds
which ha&its origin in the decomposition of the numerous
half buried *bodies that were deposited there in heaps. —
Thexity authorities turned their attention at once, not
only to present remedy, but to future prevention. The
bodies were disinterred and burnt, and the bones deposi-
ted in the catacombs. This was for a remedy. For
future prevention, the grounds of " Pere la Chaise" were
laid out for a city of the dead. They consist of about
seventy acres, upon an emfoerice, from which you have
a fine view or the city. These grounds exhibit every
variety of memento of ihe departed, from %, simple stick,
marked with initials,' to the most splendid mausoleum. —
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 183
On the anniversary of a particular day in September, it
is the custom for th/relatives of the deceased, to repair
to the sepulchre of their departed friends, and strew them
with flowers. It was my good fortune to witnesl this
anniversary, which was full of interest, and calculated to
bring into action all the best feelings of our nature. —
There I saw the widow, in all the agony of grief, kneel-
ing at the tomb of her departed husband ; parents be-
dewing the graves of their childr^a witMheir tears, and
children offering up their prayers for the ^uls of their
deceased parents. Among the most interesting monu-
ments, was the tomb of Abbelard anff Eloise, which
occupies a conspicuous place among th6se mansions of
the dead.
The Pantheon is a noble building, and when we unite
with the beauty of its architecture, *he use to which it is
applied, it gives rise to emotions both painful and pleas-
ing. Over the portico are these words, "a grateful
country to her benefactors." I descended to its vaulted
tombs — each vault is about ten feet square, With a single
tomb in the centre; It consists of a plain pannel on»aach
side, and at the head and foot, with a heavy marble slab
at top, on which the name is engraved. They were
all similar, except Rosseau's, who must have been a great
favorite with the artist, for the inventive genius of man
m could scarcely contrive any thing more striking than is j
here exhibited. It is this — his right arm 'is represented
as having burst qpen the head of the tomb, from which it
projects at least a foot, with the hand grasping and hold-
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184 RBMIN ISCEltCES OF THK
ing up the torch of truth. The idea is beautiful, and
beautifully executed.
I next visited the Observatory, a large, handsome
building, with a deep well in the centre, and one of Her-
schel's great telescopes, some twenty feet in length, or
more, immediately over it. (I am curious to know whe-
ther this great Observatory, and telescope, with all their
appliances, are the same that I read of in a morning pa-
per, a few days ago, as being placed under a very sim-
ple shed ! ) from the top, was a beautiful view of a large
part of the city. This closed my day's journey, and I
repaired to my hotel, and from thence to Mr. Gallatin's
at half past four, to dinner, where I met a cousin of Mr.
Gallatin, who was a general officer in the French ser-
vice, young Mr. Carroll, grandson of the signer of the
Declaration of Independence, with the family, consisting
of Mr. and Mrs. Gallatin, and daughter, and the Secre-
tary of Legation. The dinner was very good, and there
was no ostentation. There was a choice of wines, and
Mr. G. asked me which I preferred ? To which I re-
plied, I was not very particular, but would take Hermi-
tage. Mr. Gallatin remarked, I had been in Paris long
enough to become acquainted with the best wine in it —
After two or three glasses round, the company withdrew
to the drawing-room, when coffee was served. He who
never drank coffee in Paris, does not know what good
coffee is. A little while after, the party was joined by
Mr. Irving, our then, late minister to Spain. I had known
him in London, when he was Consul there.
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Mr. Gallatin enquired what I had seen 'of Paris, and
when I told him of that day's journey, he declared I had
seen more of it than he had, although he had been there
a number of years. He told me of his first introduction
to Alexander of Russia, who, when Mr. G's. name was
announced, instead of receiving him seated, in the usual
way, rose and met him, and presenting him his hand, said,
" Mr. Gallatin, I am glad to see you. I have long known
you by reputation, and now I shall be happy in your per-
sonal acquaintance." There was a* condescension and
affability in this reception, that could not but be pleasing
to the American ambassador, and what made it more so,
the allied sovereigns were present. It must have been
wormwood to the haughty Emperor of Austria.
Mr. Gallatin reminded me of Franklin, as he appears
in his writings. It is impossible to converse with him,
without learning something worth knowing. I have met
with very few such cle&r heads as his — every word that
comes from him, tells. I had a long conversation with
Mrs. Gallatin. She had near relatives in Baltimore, with
whom I was acquainted ; and it was gratifying to me to
be able to give her late and pleasing intelligence of them.
Eleven o'clock having arrived, I took leave, accompanied
by Mr. Carroll, but not until an agreement was entered
into, to meet at Versailles, the next Sunday. I was there,
but Mr. Gallatin did not come, a circumstance which I
greatly regretted.
The Louvre. — The facade of this palace is one of the
most splendid pieces of arphitecture in Europe. The
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186 REMINISCENCES OF THE
Gallery of ftfentings in it, numbered upwards of twelve
hundred and fifty, (of which I had a catalogue, but have
lost it,) by all the great masters of ancient and modern
times. It would require weeks to view them attentively,
and to describe them, would take volumes, and the pen
of a connoisseur, to whlfch I lay no claim. At one of
my visits, on a Sunday, there were four chimney sweeps
among the crowd, lounging very leisurely through the
immense gallery, and making their observations to each
other. It was, to q|e, truly gratifying to see them ; there
were none who appeared to enjoy the sight more. What
a contrast to the state of things before the first revolu-
tion, when no man was allowed to walk in the gardens
of the chateau, except in full dress, bag wig, and sword.
There was a barber, in those days, who took great de-
light in promenading in those beautiful grounds, and, con-
forming to the rules of dress, he was admitted without
question.
The short space of time allowed me to bestow on the
paintings in this gallery, and the great number there
were, made it impossible to retain axlistinct recollection
of any number of them. There was one, however, the
boldness of its design, and the beauty of its execution,
added to its great size, could not escape my more partic-
ular notice. It was the triumphal entry of Henry the
Fourth into Paris. The figures were all as large as life*
The graceful ease with which Henry sat on his horse,
(which appeared as a thing of life,) and the sweet expres-
sion of his countenance, as he saluted those around him,
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left an indelible impression on my mind»j|»d brought
the excellence of his character, and the manner of his
untimely de^th, fresh to my remembrance.
The attention of the French to foreigners, (to be met
with in no other country,) was here conspicuous — they
were freely admitted at all tirafts, while the mass of their
own citizens were only admitted on Sundays. I next
visited the Gallery of Statuary, situated on the ground
floor, in the same building. Here, again, the vast num-
ber of objects tended to distract the attention — but there
were a number, the names of which are known to all who
have the least knowledge of heathen mythology, that
could not fail to attract the attention of the slightest ob-
server : I allude to the Venus de Medicis ; the Apollo
Belvidere ; the Apollo of the Vatican ; the Her-
cules, and the group of Laocoon and his sons. Those
are all master pieces of the sculptor's art, with numerous
othsrs ; among them, some in colored marbles — of those,
a Venus, in black Egyptian marble, was most conspic-
uous.
I will now take leave of the Louvre, and visit the
Luxemburg. There were about one hundred and thirty
paintings, a number of them by David; for instance, the
judgment of Brutus ; the funeral of his son ; the rape of
the Sabines ; the Horatii receiving their swords, &c, the
figures in all of which were as large as life.
There were two paintings in this collection, which,
were they mine, I would not exchange for any two others
I ever saw. One was by a then living artist, whose
name has escaped me. The subject was " the Deluge;"
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188 REMINISCENCES OF THE
the canvass about seven or eight feet in height, by four
in breadth. On the right was a ledge of rocks, over
which the waters were pouring in cataracts. Near the
top of which, from a cleft, grew a large tree ; a man of
middle age clung round a limb of it with both his arms ;
on his shoulders was his aged father, clinging to him, a
beautiful female, the wife of the son ; on her bosom, an
infant crying, so true to nature, that I almost imagined
that I heard it ; clinging to her again, was a beautiful,
girl of about six yews ; and at their feet, floating on the
surface of the deep, was another, (of the apparent age of
ten,) dead : while thus situated, the limb breaks, and they
are all being precipitated into the abyss of waters. The
coloring was of the new French school, and so true to
nature, that before I was aware, I found myself feeling
of it to ascertain its reality. I saw several gentlemen
and one lady do the same, while tears poured down the
cheeks of more than one of them. They were French.
An Englishman would have seated himself, and leaning
forward with a hand on each knee, pronounced it a fine
painting — a very fine painting indeed! and want to
know the price of it immediately ; while the Frenchman
saw no painting at all — to him it was all a reality.
The other picture, to which I have alluded, was about
three by two and a half feet. It represented a banditti
of three or four, who had stopped, with the intent to rob
Tasso, the great author of Jerusalem delivered. They
are seated on the ground, overhauling his baggage, when
they find a volume of the poem ; at sight of which, and
learning from him that he was the author, they restore
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every thing with the most humble apologj* The scene
represents the moment when they found the volume, and
learned that he was its author. I should like to know
how long it will be before the bandits of the Mississippi
valley show a like veneration for literature.
I now come to the Hotel of the Invalids. This build-
ing is the most conspicuous of any in all Paris ; not more
for the seventeen acres of ground that are included within
its walls and courts, than for its large, lofty, gilt dome.
This gilding was the work of Napoleon, and when the
sun shines upon it, the brilliancy is too great for the eye.
It has a clock of great size, beautiful workmanship, and
extraordinary mechanism,all of which is exhibited through
the glass of a window.
I spent near half a day in looking through this vast
palace, which then had upwards of seven thousand inhab-
itants, and had had more than twice that number. I
commenced in the kitchen, where the furnaces were in
operation preparing dinner. I never yet saw the hotel,
or private dwelling, where there was more cleanliness
and order of arrangement. From the kitchen I went to
the dining room. The tables were set out for dinner,
and made a formidable display of neatness and regularity.
I next entered the library, consisting, at that time, often
thousand volumes of valuable books, the appearance of
which was sufficient evidence that they were not kept
for show. From thence to one of the bed chambers,
where there were two rows' of beds extending some
hundreds of feet, with a case of drawers between every
two of them. The next object to which my attention
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190 REMINISCENCES OF THE
was called, was the magnificent chapel, directly under
the great dome, which appeared at a fearful height over
my head. The floor on which I stood was by far the
most beautiful piece of mosaic I ever saw : on either
hand, against the wall, was a monument of pure white
marble, elegant in design, and perfect in execution ; the
one to the right of the great altar bore simply the name
of" Conde," while that to the left, in like manner, bore
that of " Turenne" Louis the Fourteenth presented this
establishment with a magnificent suite of plate, which, of
course, is only used on great occasions. I shall here
close my notice of this magnificent building, which, to do
it justice, would require a volume.
On a Sunday, during divine service, I entered the great
cathedral church of Notre Dame, and began to view the
splendid paintings that adorn its walls. While thus en-
gaged, one of the priests came to me, and very politely
requested me to continue my view of the paintings until
the service was over, when he would attend me through
the building, and show me the curiosities it contained : I
did so. At the expiration of about twenty minutes, he
returned to me, and I accompanied him up stairs, where,
among a variety of other relics, he exhibited to me a
piece of the veritable cross, which he informed me was
brought to Paris by Saint Louis, on his first entrance
into that city. Also, a number of rings of great anti-
quity, that were worn by the fathers of the church. He
then proceeded to show me the coronation robes worn
' by Napoleon ; they were most splendidly wrought with
gold, upon a purple velvet ground, and formed a corn-
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plete circle. When he wore them, they were studded
with his favorite emblem, the bee ; but the Bourbons
had made them give place to their ancient emblem, the
fleur de lis. This struck me as exhibiting a littleness of
mind that should not have been so betrayed. With this
exception, they were as when he wore them. After his
coronation, he presented them to this church, to be worn
only on state occasions by the archbishop ; their weight
was seventy-eight pounds.
I shall now speak of the Royal Library, which at that
time contained about six hundred thousand volumes, (it
has since been increased to upwards of eight hundred
thousand,) besides forty thousand volumes of manuscripts,
and a vast collection of ancient coins and medals, all of
which were spread out before the stranger, in a manner
that showed they took pleasure in doing it. The building
forms a hollow square, and the first thing that strikes you
on entrance, is a bronze statue of Voltaire, seated at the
table, (his costume a morning wrapper,) common to all
who visit the library, and wish to avail themselves of the
use of any of the books it contains ; it is only to ask, and
the librarian attends your call with perfect affability and
politeness ; there you are provided with pens, ink, and
paper, and may make whatever extracts you please.
There are exhibited a pairof globes, of twelve or four-
teen feet diameter, I am not certain which ; they stand in
the room below, and an opening in the ceiling admits just
one half of the ball through into the library, where you
can stand and turn them as you wish, with perfect ease.
Another object worthy of particular attention, is a table
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about fifteen feet in length, by four or five in breadth,
which is covered, two, or tfcree inches deep, with sand
brought from the immediate neighborhood of the pyramids
of Egypt, and on this sand the three principal pyramids
are exhibited, in exact bearing and proportion to their
great originals : another, and the last I shall notice, is
Mount Parnassus, in bronze, rising two or three feet in
height, exhibiting the pdets of the age of Louis XIV, in
figures about four inches high, toiling up the mountain,
while Louis is standing on the summit, and extending his
hand to the one nearest him ; the whole is unique and
beautiful.
The mint is particularly worthy of the traveller's
attention. I found the door open and walked in, but saw
no one, and observed to a gentleman with me, that pos-
session was eleven points of the law. This was heard
by an elderly gentleman, who was screened from my
view : he came forward. I told him my errand, and he
politely showed me to a stair way, observing, I would
meet with no interruption up stairs, and when I came
down he would conduct me to other parts of the building.
When at the top of the stairs, I entered a room of great
extent, which was filled with rows of glass cases, contain-
ing the finest collection of minerals and fossils in the
world, every specimen of which was labelled, both in
Latin and French, and were only protected by the glass.
I spent two hours in viewing them, and then was shown
into the apartment of medals ; there I could have spent a
^^Jay with pleasure, but having devoted as much time as I
could spare, to those beautiful works of art and useful-
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ness, I purchased two, Washington and Franklin, and bid
adieu to the mint.
The Temple was a State prison, in which Louis the
Sixteenth and his family were confined ; it was long since
razed to the ground, but a perfect model had been pre-
viously taken of it, and was then made a show of by an
old lady ; I could not readily find the place of exhibition,
although I knew I was in the neighborhood of it. A
woman was standing at a wash-tub at a corner of a
street, and I sent my valet to make inquiry of her ; when
a scene took place, which illustrated the French charac-
ter better than a volume. Isaac, my valet, approached
the lady of the suds, with hat in hand, and a most pro-
found bow ; good morning, madam ; good morning, sir ;
(as she wiped her wet hands upon her apron.) very fine
morning! madam ; yes sir, very pleasant, indeed. After
a little more conversation of the same kind, Isaac entered
upon the duties of his embassy, which were Bimply to
inquire the way to where the model of the temple was
exhibited. The lady did not know where it was, and
made a long apology for her ignorance. Mr. Isaac, not
to be behind hand with her, was profuse in his apologies
for having troubled her on the occasion ; and then came
the leave taking — again it was good morning, madam ;
good morning, sir; with the most respectful bowing, on
the one part, and courtesing to the ground, on the other.
I asked Isaac why he could not have put a direct ques-
tion, received a direct answer, and returned immediately :
he broke out in the following exclamation : " My Go4
sir, that would never do in Paris ; it might do in London,
VOL. I. 17
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194 REMINISCENCE^ OF TH^ " J
or in t{ie United States, I beg pardon, sir,- but it wotild
never do in Paris." I foapLthe place in a few fl^inutes
after, and saw and examined the object of my fisit, the
most interesting part # of which, was the manner pointed
out to me by which the unfortunate Louis and his. family
contrived to hold intercourse, when so much pains Ji'ad
been taken to pre^nt it, by confining them in different
stories. It was 4his : they wrote what they wished to
communicate, and at night lowered it down by a thread,
from whence it was taken, and another put in its place
and drawn up.
I will now proceed to the place Vendome, a very large
square, in which stands Napoleon's celebrated bronze
column, made of three hundred pieces of cannon, taken
by him at the battle of Austerlitz. Its height, if my
memory serves, is one hundred and sixty feet. Its diam-
eter sufficient to admit a winding stairway from the bot-
tom to the top. The column was crowned with a col-
lossal statue of Napoleon. On the restoration of the
Bourbons, it was taken down, and its place occupied by
the white flag. Since their expulsion, it has been resto-
red by Louis Phillippe.
The greatest beauty of this unequalled monument is the
spiral bas relief, ascending from the base to the top,
exhibiting in its progress, his numerous battles in figures,
about six inches in length. In the same square, and
immediately in front of the gate of the Tuilleries, was
Napoleon's grand triumphal arch,on the topof which stood
/the celebrated Corinthian horses, in bronze, brought from
St Mark's palace, at Venice, and were sent back from
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whence they came, by the allies, at the restoration, in
comnion with numerous tftblr pieces of art, taken in like
manner Itom the different capitals of Europe.
The square of Louis the Sisteeqth. — It was on that
square that the guillotine wag permanently erected, in the
first revolution. There it was that an amiable mon-
arch, the friend of these United States, but for whose
aid . we might not have obtained our Independence, suf-
fered an ignominious death. There it was that Maria
Antoinette, his beauteous queen, and the most splendid
woman in Europe, was beheaded. There it was that
the amiable and accomplished Brissot de Warville, with
nearly fifty of his political followers met their fate in one
morning. There it was that the fiend Danton and his
followers, yielded up their lives to the justice of an abu-
sed country. There it was that the fiend Robespierre
and his followers, were brought to public justice — and
there it was that thousands of the good and patriotic
were immolated by the infernal Jacobins. It is proper
here to observe, that when the news of the death of
Louis the Sixteenth reached Providence, R. I., the bells-
were tolled in token of respect for his memory. There
may have been other instances, but it was not my good
fortune to hear of them. He was no longer of service
to us, and that accounts for it.
On one side of this square, were the statues of two ram-
pant wild horses, with bridles held short by the head, by
grooms; they were admirable specimens of sculpture,
from the chisel of Houdon. J
The Boulivards were a beautiful shaded promenade,
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196 REMINISCENCES OF TH% 4
with a wide carriage-way alongside, extending nearly, or
quite round the city. Herte the citizens congregated on
summer evenings to walk, or to sit and chat In groups,
as inclination dictated. Chairs were hired for a cent
each, and it was common to see six or eight, who were
acquainted, and perhaps neighbors, seated in a circle,
enjoying themselves in conversation, or looking at the
thousands of well-dressed people who passed in review
before them — affording, altogether, a most rational and
unexceptionable scene of enjoyment
The Tuilleries, or Chateau, as the Parisians generally
call it, has long been the favorite town residence of
the monarchs of France. This palace took its name
from the spot where it stands, having once been a yard
where tiles were made, with which to roof houses. The
pleasure grounds attached to it are extensive, and very
beautifully ornamented with a great variety of statuary ;
and it is a singular fact, that does honor to the populace,
that in the numerous and horrible outbreaks of the revo-
lution, there were but two of them injured, (except those
of royalty, and they were all destroyed throughout the
kingdom.) One of those was Laocoon, in the group of
that name; his arm was broken: the other I do not
recollect. I have heard recently, that those beautiful
walks are no longer open to the public. I hope it is not
true.
The theatres of Paris were numerous, but I only visited
three or four of them. The theatre Fran^ais was among
<be largest in Europe, and there, performers of the great-
est merit were generally retained. At the time here
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alluded to, the great Talma was still living, and per-
formed occasionally — of which several days' notice was
given, t saw him in the Earl of Essex, (a translation
from the English.) There was not a vacant seat in the
house, which was as still as a church, and infinitely more
so than some I could name, except when some eminent
performer came on, or being on, made a hit ; then there
was a distinct round of applause, loud, but not long.
There was neither eating, nor drinking at their theatres ;
people went to see and to hear, and were satisfied with
the gratification of those two senses. When Talma
came on, there were three distinct rounds of applause ;
to which he paid no other attention, than a slight inclina-
tion of his head. It was to see him that I went, and
great as my expectations were, they fell far short of the
reality. I had seen Cook, Kemble, Kean, McCradie,
and a host of others, in their best days, but Talma was
as superior to either of them, as Mrs. Siddons was to
the general run of stock actresses. I have no idea that
§
he ever had an equal, except Garrick.
It is in the French theatres, that Shakspeare's beautiful » .
idea is realized — " They hold the mirror up to nature.*
Their ghosts are taught better manners than to come
upon the stage ; they hold colloquy with the actor from *
behind the scenes, or, if seen, they are visible only to
him, or her who addresses them. I had heard much of
the indelicacy of the dress of the French ladies — I saw
none of it ; on the contrary, neatness and elegant sim-
plicity marked both their dress, and address. * -
The next place I shall speak of, is the Garden of Plants.
17*
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198 REMINISCENCES OF TH1
Of this establishment I could only take a cursory view ;
the vast variety of objects, other than plants, that were
there presented to view, would require a great deal of
time, and a volume to describe them. The botanical
collection was unquestionably the largest in the world ;
to this was added an anatomical museum in wax, an
extensive menagerie, and other objects.
The Bourse, or Exchange, promised to be a very
splendid building, although then in an unfinished state.
It has been finished since, and has a magnificent colon-
nade.
The Gobelin Tapestry manufactory h^d its name from
the founder ; it was the weaving of pictures in colored
worsteds, and was carried to great perfection. I noticed
in one of the rooms, a full length portrait of Mary An-
toinette, the unfortunate queen of Louis the Sixteenth ;
it was nearly completed, and made a most beautiful
picture ; the artist was then engaged upon the face, to
which he gave the most beautiful tints of red and white.
There were several pieces in the looms, and a number
hung up, which had been made for years, and were for
sale ; the prices were very high, but I do not recollect
the amount. The colors had stood the test of time,
without fading. This factory belonged to the crown, as
did several others I shall mention.
As I stept into the looking-glass factory, I met the
hands going to dinner ; they immediately went back and
showed me the whole process of manufacturing. In one
•of the rooms I saw a sample plate, which was about
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eleven feet high, by five wide; price 28,000 francs.
This was another of the royal factories.
Without the city, three or four miles, was the Persian
carpet establishment; the productions of those looms
were solely for the use of the royal palaces. There
was a carpet recently finished, in a single piece of about
seven yards square, intended for the Duchess de Bern's
bed chamber ; it was rolled up and laid upon a shelf,
from whence six men were called to take it down, that
I might see it. It was upwards of an inch thick, and
yielded to the pressure of; the foot like newly fallen snow,
but recovered from the pressure the moment the foot
was lifted. Where is there another country in which
such pains are taken to gratify the stranger, who has no
other claifo upon them, than his being such ? It is nei-
ther in the United States, nor in Great Britain ; and all
this attention and trouble, without money, and without
price.
Six or seven miles from Paris, was the Seives China
manufactory. There the display of this article, in every
variety of form, was immense. There were dining plates
from one franc, to one hundred each. Cups and saucers,
one of each, one hundred francs, and from that down to
half a franc. There were vases, at the value of twenty-
five thousand francs ; and tables made entirely of porce-
lain, at twenty-eight thousand; one of which was pre-
sented by Louis the Eighteenth, to George the Fourth
of England. These tables were circular, and three feet
in diameter; on the tops were painted and burnt in,' 1
beautiful views of all the palaces in France. This fac-
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toiy, and the Persian carpet, were both the property of
the crown.
Paris had numerous fountains, some of which were as
Ifeautiful as useful : among them, one which answered
the double purpose of a fountain, and a monument to the
celebrated Marshal Desaix, who was a great favorite
with Napoleon, and deservedly so ; for he was every
inch a soldier. Twice did Napoleon present him with a
complete military outfit, which Desaix placed little value
on, and soon lost He would wrap himself in his cloak,
and with a gun carriage * for his pillow, sleep so sound
that his own artillery would scarcely wake |um. It was
he who saved his imperial master from disgrace and
defeat at Marengo, at the expense of his own life ; for
which this monumental fountain was erected to his me-
mory, by his grateful friend and sovereign.
The fountain of the elephant will be among the won-
ders of the world, when completed. In fact, it was so
then, as the model in plaster was the same size the
bronze cast will be, that was eighty-four feet in height,
including the castle on his back. In the near fore leg,
was to be a stairway leading to a room in his body, of a
sufficient size to seat eighteen persons at table. From
this room the stairs were to be continued to the top of
the castle. Beneath the floor of the room the water was
to flow, and be delivered at his mouth. This colossal
undertaking was complete, so far as respected the model
of the elephant, and the marble basin in which he was to
stand, of a circular form, and nearly eighty feet in diame-
ter. The basin was just being completed when I saw it
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The elephant had a house built over him, and was the
only object of art in Paris, that could not be seen without
a permit. The location of this fountain is in the. imme-
diate neighborhood, or on the very spot where the BastftB
stood, as I observed near it, a part of the fosse that once
surrounded that castle, which had not been filled up.
The conservatory of the Arts was an immense build-
ing, filled with one of the most valuable museums in
Europe. On the ground floor, the first objects that met
my view, was .the models of all the ploughs, from the
days of the patriarchs, down to the time in which I saw
them. Con|picudtis in the front row, were Thomas' and
Freeborne's American patents; they deserved to be
there, for they far surpassed' all others, in the immense
collection, both in form and finish. There were also
every kind of agricultural implements in great variety,
together with a vast variety of mechanism ; among them
a model of the machine of Marley, by which the water
of the Seine was forced up seven hundred feet, through
pipes of eight or nine inches diameter, laying on the sur-
face of the ground. It was there received into a reser-
voir, from whence, by an aqueduct, it was taken to Ver-
sailles, for the use of the water works in the splendid
gardens of the palace at that place ; of which more here-
after. The workmanship as well as the mechanism of
this machine, which was of brass and steel, attracted my
particular attention, as being unsurpassed in finish and
beauty, so very unlike some brass locks I had noticed
a day or two before, on the inner doors of the palace of
Condie, which would have got a boy a whipping, who
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202 REMINISCENCES OF THE
had not been* twelve months at the business, in Birming-
ham. In the second story, on a table some two or
three hundred feet in length, was exhibited the models of
all the vessels from Noah's Ark, to the then present time;
or, at all events, from a Roman galley to a New York
packet ship. In this immense collection were also dis-
played a sample of every kind of manufacture carried
on in France. There were looms with webs of cloth of
gold, of silver, of steel, and of brass ; besides numerous
specimens of manufacture in wool, cotton, flax, and hemp.
To be brief, I consider this collection of the produc-
tions of the mechanic arts, from ancient down to modern
times, as incomparably more useful than all the others I
ever saw.
Ther§ was a great national holiday, the anniversary
of St. Louis, if my memory is correct, which occurred
while I was in Paris, on which occasion it was custo-
mary to have temporary buildings erected in the Elysium
fields, and filled with bread, sausages, legs of mutton, and
skins of wine, which at a given hour, were thrown among
the populace, who were assembled by tens of thousands,
and he who could catch the most was the best fellow ; I
saw one more active than the rest catch four large bun-
dles of sausages, and three legs of mutton. The scene
lasted some fifteen, or twenty minutes, and was decidedly
the most laughable I ever saw. The multitude of
spectators, of all ranks, was immense ; the shops were
all shut, and the entire population seemed to have turned
qut to witness the|pene. The vast concourse appeared
to the greatest advantage when wending their way home-
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ward, as happy, as happy could be ; I neither saw nor
heard of any disturbance whatever, nor did I see an
intoxicated person during my continuance in Paris. In
the walk to my hotel, I fell in with Baron Fourcroix,
whom I had long known in Charleston, as the successor
of Mr. Soult, (brother of the great Marshal of that
name,) in the office of Consul General for the Southern
States ; the surprise at meeting each other in Paris, was
mutual ; he was a gentleman of great urbanity of man-
ners, and when I was engaged in editing the Charleston
Gazette, he frequently kid me under obligation by fur-
nishing me with the latest, and most correct information
from France.
Although last, not least, the Palais Royal called for
my attention. It was the world in miniature, in which
was to be found almost every thing desirable and useful
Jo man, except an apothecary's shop ; that would remind
us of sickness, and mortality, and consequently had no
place within its walls. This vast building formed a hol-
low square, in the centre of which was a beautiful jet
d'eau. The number of shops, coffee houses, etc., con-
tained in it, was then about five hundred. It was the
resort of all ranks and conditions. There were shops in
it where you could have a suit of clothes made, while
you sat and read the newspapers ! Among the coffee
houses, was one called the Milk Columne, from its hav-
ing rows of pillars set with looking-glass, which multi-
plied them to a thousand. This room was of great size,
and while you drank your wine, or.aipped your brandy
and water, you were gratuitously entertained with rope
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and wire dancing, and balancing, by the best masters in
Europe. It was customary, in Paris, to have the hand-
somest young female that could be found, to sit in the
bar, and receive the money from customers. The lady
who officiated in that capacity, at the Milk Columne,
was extremely beautiful, and that her seat might corres-
pond with her beauty, the proprietor had purchased in
Naples, at an expense of five thousand francs, the iden-
tical throne on which Murat was seated, as King of Na-
ples, by Napoleon. Thus seated, she received not only
the money, but the homage of the visitors — every one
who entered the room, from the highest to the lowest
paying her the most profound respect. She was very
affable, and conversed well in English. There were fre-
quently from one to two hundred persons congregated at
this coffee-house, of an evening, and yet there was as
perfect order and decorum, as in any private drawing-
room. Here, the arts, sciences, literature, and politics,
were all subjects of conversation. I could not help
drawing comparisons, and truth compels me to say, that
the result was against us. Verree's eating rooms, (I know
no other name for them,) are the best in Paris. His
daily bill of fare is larger than the largest newspaper in
the city, and contains every luxury that Europe affords,
which are daily served at his tables. It was common for
ladies 'to dine there, and at other coffee houses in Paris,
with their husbands, brothers, or friends. The FrenA
are fond of society, and hence it is that many of those in
affluence, or easy circumstances, spend a large part of
their time at coffee houses ; not in dissipation, but in
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rational conversation,"or innocent amusements — such as
dominoes, drafts, and chess. I never saw a pack of cards
in France; not but that they have them. There are
coffee-houses expressly for each of those games.
During my stay in Paris, I made frequent excursions
into the country. The palaces in its environs, were so
located, that it was the mere extension of your ride,*>n
the same road, to visit two of them at a time. My first
excursion was to St. Cloude and Versailles. It was on
Sunday, and the water-works, at the latter place, were
to be exhibited ; a circumstance which had not occurred
since the preceding year. We left Paris at nine o'clock ;
the day was fine ; we arrived at St. Cloude a little after
ten. The prefect of the palace received us, and as com-
pany continued to arrive in numbers, (which, with the
exception of a friend and our humble self, consisted en-
tirely of English nobility and gentry,) he kept us all in
conversation until eleven, when, under his guidance, we
commenced a survey of the palace, where we saw nothing
very remarkable, until we entered the state dining-room,
when our conductor, stepping up to a very large looking-
glass, that was apparently set in the wall, touched a
spring, when the glass disappeared, and an open window
appeared in its place, presenting a view, through a long
Vista, of unsurpassed beauty. Having sufficiently feasted
their eyes with this sight, the company were conducted
«p stairs, where the rooms were divided into suites of
four, for each member of the family.
In the Queen's bed-chamber, a door was pointed out
to us, which, being papered of the same color of the
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room) and having no lock, was not observable ; it opened
fcy a secret spring. It was through this door that Maria
Antoinette made her escape from those demons, the Jaco-
bins, that came from Paris to seize her. She had barely
time to shut it after her, when they entered the chamber,
and were so struck with beholding their own hideousness
reflected in the large mirrors that adorned it, that it
afforded her time to make good her retreat. The com-
pany having finished their view of the palace, were next
conducted to view the grounds about it There were
artificial cascades, cut in the rock, which made but a sorry
appearance without water.
The whole company then departed for Versailles —
the road was literally alive with equipages and carriages
of every description. It was three o'clock when we
arrived. The first thing was to call for a bill of fare, and
order dinner ; while that was preparing, we all went to
the palace, which, as a royal residence, was the pride of
France, and glory of Louis the Fourteenth. It was, in-
deed, a magnificent building, and, taken in connection with
the objects that surrounded it, I think could not be sur-
passed in Europe. It was from a balcony, in the Paris
front of this palace, that Maria Antoinette held up her
son to the view of a Parisian mob, of many thousands,
in the vain hope of appeasing them. They had come all
the way out, (fourteen miles,) in a heavy rain, to force
the royal family to Paris, and to Paris they were compel-
led to go, surrounded by the very dregs of creation, some
of whom even mounted on the top of the royal carriage,
and otherwise treating its inmates with the greatest inso-
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lence and ribaldry. Ill-fated family, it was their last
journey. This palace had been seldom occupied, from
the time above mentioned, down to the time when we
were there, and there was little in it to attract attention,
except the Royal Chapel, which was a most splendid
apartment. It contained a theatre also, in which three
thousand persons had been seated ; but no use had been
made of it since the revolution.
We returned to our hotel at four, and dined immediately,
that we might be ready for the water works, the grand
object of our excursion. I was early seated, immediately
in front of the great half moon basin, in which all the
water gods and nymphs, with Neptune at their head,
were located ; at a given signal, a cock was turned,
when they all commenced throwing water, to the height
of eighty feet, which fell back in cascades into the basin.
It was a most beautiful scene ; and enlivened by the
presence of forty thousand Parisians, besides the inhabit-
ants of Versailles, and others from a distance. There
were other basins, in the tasteful lawns, on a smaller
scale, ornamented with statuary, and jets cFeau, which
were in action at the same time with the larger one.
Having enjoyed these scenes to satiety, we next visited
the Orangery, where were some hundreds of trees, of
from four to eight inches in diameter, loaded with fruit,
in every stage of advancement, from the half grown to
the fully ripe. The trees were all in large tubs, upon
wheels, that they might readily be put under cover, when
necessary.
It was now near sunset, and we had some distance to
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208 REMINISCENCES OF TBI
walk, through those beautiful grounds, to the little Tria-
non, a small palace, of exquisite design and workmanship,
built of red Carera marble, and had been the favorite
place of resort of the unfortunate queen. I was com-<
pelled to be satisfied with an outward view of it, as it
was too late to go in. The summer house in the garden
of this palace, if it could speak, and was put to the ques-
tion, would tell strange stories.
Evening had now arrived, and we set out on our return
to Paris. As we approached near to it, we came to the gar-
den of TivolL The fireworks had just commenced. We
halted and viewed them from the carriage. The French
are great pyrotechnics. I visited the garden a few
nights after, and found them vastly inferior to Vauxhall,
near London.
My next excursion was up the bank of the Seine, to
"Mai Maison," and from thence to St. Germain, en
Laye. The former of these palaces was about seven
miles from Paris, and was not larger than an elegant
country house, for a family of a dozen or twenty persons,
ought to be. There was nothing of regal state about it
The grounds, which were extensive, were laid out in the
English style, and there is none more beautiful.
This was a favorite residence of Napoleon, and still
more so of Josephine, to whom he gave it. No portion
of the then rojtol family had occupied it since the empe-
ror's abdication, and in those rooms in which he spent
most of his time, every thing had been permitted to
remain just as he left them. In his chamber, his camp bed,
for instance, and in the library room, the last book that
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS.
he had read in, and the chair on which he sat, all remained
as he left them.
I took the liberty of seating myself in the chair, and
entering into conversation with my conductor, who spoke
English fluently, and had taken me for English, but no
sooner was he informed that I was an American, than
he said, "I have something to show you," and immediately
unlocked a closet, from which he brought to me, an ivory
statue of Napoleon, about a foot in height, and wrought
out of a single tusk. He was represented in military
costume, with the well known little cocked hat upon his
head. The workmanship was perfect, and so was the
likeness, as my attendant informed me, and I had no rea-
son to doubt it, for it was a complete fac simile of others
I had seen. I would rather possess this statue, than any
other I saw in France, not excepting the Venus de
Medicis.
I observed in the dining roorp, over the fire-place, a
copy of a full length portrait of Jeflerson ; it was one of
those miserable productions of Helmbold, published when
he (Mr. Jefferson,) was President. Having satisfied my
curiosity within doors, I went out to view the grQunds.
Many of my readers will recollect to have heard the
remark, when a story, apparently incredible, has been
told, u that is a black swan ;* and as there was supposed
to be no such bird in existence, it amounted to the same
thing as saying, the. narrator told a falsehood. But the
fact is, there are black swans, for I saw a pair them, male
and female, swimming in the waters which formed a part
of. that beautiful landscape. I spent half an hour in
18*
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£10 SIM INISCENCE* OF THE
admiring them, as they swam close to the bank, the male
some twenty feet ahead of the female, of whom he was
jealous, for no sooner did my friend, or myself, take the
least notice of her, than he began to murmur ; not like
"a swan in death," as the poet sings, but like one in
imger.
^1 stopped to look at the water works, at Marley, and
ascended the steep on which the pipes were laid ; the
day was warm, and an English lady who, with her hus-
band, had joined me, was unable to reach the top of the
mount, where the reservoir and aqueduct were to be
seen. Having satisfied my curiosity, I returned, and
drove on to Saint Germain en laye, where I arrived in
time for dinner. It was a handsome town ; the principal
street was very wide, and well built.
While dinner was preparing, I visited the large old
palace — the favorite residence of Henry the Fourth,
whose bed room was about twelve feet square, and rough
plastered. This palace had long ceased to be a royal
residence, and was then used for a military school The
terrace was said to be the finest in Europe. The grounds
were extensive and beautiful; I took a drive through
them after dinner, and then returned to Paris.
A day or two after, I made an afternoon excursion to
Boulogne wood, distant some three or four miles from
town. This had been an extensive forest, and was inter-
sected, in every direction, by the most beautiful rides and
walks, but had been shorn of much of its beauty, by the
idlied army of occupation, who had destroyed all the
trees of any we ; there was a fine growth then coming
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up in their stead, with trunks of from three to six inches
in diameter.
Only to think of such a beautiful spot being assigned
to an army of northern savages, for an encampment 1
Yes, the Cossacks of the Volga and the Don, accustomed
to live on train oil and brandy, not only roamed through
and destroyed those beautiful groves at pleasure, but
paraded the streets, and promenades of Paris, and the
saloons of its palaces, at will ! What a sight for (he most
refined and polished people upon earth! how it must
have rent their hearts to witness it ! But, they were a
doomed people, and the virtue contained in the points of
two hundred thousand foreign bayonets, operated power-
fully in keeping dojyn their otherwise rebellious spirits.
As I am about taking my leave of Paris, some general
remarks may not be out of place. That which struck
me most forcibly, on my first view of this great capital,
the second in Europe in population, and the first in arts,
was the total absence of every appearance of foreign
commerce. The Seine was a dirty puddle, when com-
pared with the beautiful stream that laves the shore of
the "Queen City of the West f and there Vas nothing
to be seen upon its surface, but fiat boats and coal barges,
laden with wood and charcoal — the only kind of fuel
that I saw in Paris. The quantity of wood, p£ed up in
some places to the height of forty o* fifty feet, was
immense ; but charcoal was the only fuel I saw in use,
consequently there was no smoke, and the view of the
city from the neighboring heights, with its domes, pala-
ces, and spires, was as distinct and clear, as an unclouded
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212 REMINISCENCES OF THE
sky, and a pure atmosphere, could mate it; whereas,
London is enveloped in one eternal smoke.
After a view of the Seine, and the non-appearance of
almost any thing like commerce, the mind is led at
once to inquire, from whence comes the support of this
vast multitude ? Visit their halls of science, of arts, of
literature, and their temples of learning, and of amuse-
ment, and the question is answered. It was the vast
multitude of people of all nations, and kindreds, and
tongues, that congregate there to enjoy the benefits of
the one, and the pleasures of the other, that had built up,
and in a great measure supported that magnificent city.
To illustrate that fact, is no difficult matter. There were
forty thousand English, Scotch, and Irish alone, in Paris,
at one time, in 1819. Put down their daily expenses for
one year, at a pound sterling per head, (which would be
far under the mark,) and you have the enormous amount
of fourteen millions six hundred thousand pounds ; add
half this sum for all other nations, and you have twenty-
one millions, nine hundred thousand pounds; equal to
ninety-four millions, five hundred thousand dollars, at
four dollars and a half to the pound sterling. To this
sum, add ten millions of dollars spent in Paris, by the
government, and the total will be one hundred and four
millions, five hundred thousand dollars. Estimate the
inhabitants at eight hundred thousand, and it gives a frac-
tion over one hundred and thirty dollars per head.
I now take my final leave of Paris, hoping that those
who have continued with me to the end, in the examina-
tion of its principal objects of attention, will not leave me
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 213
until they have seen me safe back to the land of my
nativity.
FRANCE. PARIS AND ITS ENVIRONS.
The two following letters should have preceded the
commencement of my tour in France, but were mislaid.
The authors of them are Parisians, and thus volunteered
their evidence of the correctness of my reminiscences of
their native land ; too gratifying to me, and too impor-
tant to my readers, to be denied a place in the work of
which they speak.
Cincinnati, November 7, 1838.
Sir — Permit me to express to you the pleasure I
have felt in reading your " reminiscences " of France, in
the Evening Post of yesterday. It is always to me a
source of gratification to read the remarks of an intelli-
gent American traveller, respecting France. The people
of the United States have been too long accustomed to
judge of the French character through the prejudice of
the English — prejudice which arose from the jealousy
and dread of a chivalrous and gallant nation, and which,
I am happy to say, is dying away in England. Ameri-
cans can understand the beautiful points in the French
character, and judge of it in its true light.
a With the hope that you will continue your interesting
reminiscences,
I have the honor to be, sir,
Your most ob*t serv't,
E. S. Thomas, Esq. C. PARMANTIER.
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214 REMINISCENCES OF THE
Cincinnati, December 3, W38.
Dear Sir — After carefully reading your interesting
reminiscences, I cannot restrain myself from paying you
a deserved compliment.
You are so correct in your description of the places
through which you passed, and you are making of Paris,
and its environs, a picture so new and so true, that for a
moment, I fancied myself to be traversing the very places
of my young and happy days. By every European
living in this country, these reminiscences will always
be read with the greatest pleasure, and to every stranger
who has not had the good fortune to have seen Labelle
France, they will afford an interesting pastime, and a
source of very correct instruction.
I am, sir, with the highest consideration,
Yours,
EL S. Thomas, E*». E. LEVASSOR.
The latter end of August, it was the 20th, I quitted
Paris, having hired a carriage of Mr. Meurice, to take
me down to Calais. His majesty, Louis the Eighteenth,
furnished post hprses, and the drivers wore the royal
livery, blue and red. As I entered the carriage, Mr.
Meurice came out, and handed me eight open letters, to
the keepers of the hotels where I would dine, lodge,
and breakfast, on my route, observing, " as you do not
speak our language, I thought these might be of use to
you, as you will find the English language spoken in all
those hotels.* He then observed, " I have lodgers in my
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 215
house, who have been here these three years, and do not
know half as much of Paris as you do." The many acts
of kindness I received from this gentleman, independant
of his being my host, endeared him to me, and I shall ever
remember him with the most friendly recollections* As
I took the last shake of his hand, my postillion came out
to the side of the carriage, which was drawn up in the
court yard ; he was a dapper little fellow, rather under
the middle size, and dressed in his blue round-about, with
red facings, &c, and blue pants, tied close around the
ankle, and shoes, with a glazed hat, whilst he had a pair
of jack boots hanging over his shoulder, that could not
have weighed less than twelve or fifteen pounds ! I had
long before read of such articles, (I think Sterne men-
tions them in his journey,) but I had no idea their use had
descended to the nineteenth century, and had I been going
to embark from France for the United States, I would
certainly have procured a pair of them, to present to
some one of our museums, as a curiosity, equal to at least
a large majority of those exhibited in them. With no
small exertion, he raised his feet high enough to enter the
tops of them ; no exertion whatever was necessary to
reach the bottom ; this being accomplished, an ostler, of
Herculean form, caught him up, jack boots and all, and
placed him in his seat ; he cracked his whip, and I was
off. I passed through St. Dennis, and arrived at Chan-
tiHy about one o'clock, where, having ordered dinner, I
took a guide to the palace of the Prince of Conde ; on my
way I passed through an extensive fruit garden, where
the ground was almost covered with the fallen fruit, such
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216 REMINISCENCES OF THE
as apricots, nectarines, plums, pears, &c. I picked up
some of them, when my guide told me to gather them
from the trees, as they were fresh and better ; I did so.
During the first revolution, the Jacobin mob came out
all the way from Paris, to this place, some sixteen or
eighteen miles, to destroy the palaces, of which there were
two, one of them, on an island, in an artificial lake ; this
was destroyed, as was also one of the most splendid
ranges of stables in Europe, containing stalls for one
hundred and twenty horses ; they had been rebuilt, and
one half of them just finished and occupied, when I saw
them. In their outward appearance, they were much
more like a palace than stables.
The steward of the household received me, and very
civilly informed me that I had arrived very oppor-
tunely, as the prince, and his family, had just gone out to
ride, and he could show me through every apartment.
He took me through the bed-chambers, which had evi-
dently been very recently occupied, as the beds had not
been made since. There was nothing worthy particular
notice until I arrived at the picture gallery ; a room
about one hundred and fifty feet in length — the walls of
which were covered with paintings, nearly all of them
representations of the battles fought by his great ances-
tor, " the Prince of Conde" The paintings were gener-
ally large : and there was one among them, representing
a most interesting event, in the life of that great comman-
der. It was an occasion, when the tide of battle was
turning against him, he made a desparate charge at the
head of his troops, which brought him so nigh the enemy,
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that he threw his martial's staff among them, and then
called upon his men to go and recover it. They did —
and won the victory. The scene represented is the
moment when he threw his staff. I enquired how those
fine paintings had been preserved from the devastations
of the mob ? The answer was, they had been packed
up and buried soon after the revolution commenced, and
had not been restored to their places, until a few months
before my visit. After partaking of some refreshments,
I took a short walk to look at a wild boar, (the only one
I ever saw,) that was confined in an enclosure, of an
acre, or more. He was very savage ; so much so that
my conductor cautioned me against leaving the door.of
the stable, from whence I viewed him at a distance of
about two hundred feet. He was soon to be turned out
into the neighboring forest, to be hunted by the prince,
and his court. This forest, and the eruption of the
wild beasts from it, into the town of Chantilly, has
already been noticed.
I returned to my hotel, and having dined, continued
my journey. The country through which I passed was
slightly rolling, and highly cultivated. The time I had
spent at the palace, compelled me fo travel after dark, to
reach my appointed place of stopping for the night, and
my way, for several miles, immediately before arriving
at the town, lay through a forest. This circumstance
gave me no uneasiness whatever, although a similar one
would in England. The night was very dark, and I
had got some distance into the forest, when my curiosity
was excited by a noise like a horse in a slow canter—
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218 REMINISCENCES OF THE
sometimes it came from behind, sometimes from the front,
and sometimes from the side of the carriage, which was
entirely closed. I drew the curtain and let down the
sash, and behold ! there was a gen (Tarme, completely
equipped, escorting me through the forest Having
reached its termination, he wheeled round, put spurs to
his horse, and went off at full gallop ; in a few minutes,
I was at my hotel, when, upon enquiring, I was informed
this was their nightly business. As I intended to go to
Amiens to breakfast, I started in the grey of the mor-
ning, when there was a dense fog, which prevented my
seeing objects at any distance. The carriage stopped ;
looking out to enquire the cause, I discovered a proces-
sion passing immediately in front of me, with the Host.
My companion, and myself, uncovered and sat quietly
until they had passed ; before the revolution, I should
have been compelled to alight and kneel during its pas-
sage.
Having arrived at Amiens, I stopped at the house
where Napoleon signed the celebrated treaty of peace,
which bears its name. This took place on the first day
of October, eighteen hundred and one. The country
was in a very high state of cultivation, and I stopped
several times to view their implements of husbandry. —
All the ploughs I saw were of the curricle kind, with
wooden mould boards, sheathed with sheet iron. I was
not a little surprised at this, after having just seen such a
variety, and of such superior pattern, and finish, in the
Conservatory of arts. The harrows were all similar —
wooden teeth, some shod with iron. Their agriculture,
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through the lapse of ages, had acquired a great degree df
perfection, while their implements, notwithstanding they
had the best possible models for their guides, advanced in
improvement yery slowly. They ploughed very shal-
low, not to exceed four inches, in any instance that came
under my observation. There were no vineyards on
this road, a large portion of the district through which I
passed, was in red clover and lucerne. Most of the farms
were used for grazing, and it was new to me, to see girls
of thirteen or fourteen, tending four or five head of cattle,
each of them having a cord round their horns, united
to another which she held in her hand. I noticed the
great proportion of women that worked in the field ; a
sight I was not prepared to expect in France, and when
I spoke of it, they urged with some plausibility, as a rea-
son, the great destruction of men in the wars of Napole-
on. But I have reason to apprehend, that the practice
had a much deeper root than that. The softer sex should
not be degraded by such labor, not even among the poor-
er classes, in any country, and least of all did I expect to
find it among the boasted chivalry and refinement of
modern France.
The next place I shall speak of, is the city of Cambray,
celebrated as the residence of the Archbishop Fenelon,
the great author of Telemachus, and also for a treaty
made by Napoleon. It was a handsome town. I arrived
about one o'clock, and staic[ there until the next morn-
ing — occupying the parlor, bed-room, and bed, onoe
occupied by Napoleon. Others may think as they please
of it, but I was gratified by so doing. The house was
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220 REMINISCENCES OF THE
kept by a widow lady, the sister of Meurice, from whom
I brought her a letter, which secured me every attention
that kindness could bestow. I was not a little gratified,
on looking over the register, to find a number of names
of Americans, who were old acquaintances, among whom
were Major John J. Bulow, and lady, of South Carolina.
They had passed that way to Paris, about a fortnight
before, and it was my misfortune not to have met "With
them.
I left the next morning for Calais, noticing large fields
of mangle wurtzel, and but little ruta baga, or Swedish
turnip. In the afternoon, I passed through the upper
town of Boulogne, where the walls were forty feet high,
and as many thick. This place will long live in the me-
mory of the English. It was here Napoleon congrega-
ted an immense army and flotilla, for the purpose of inva-
ding that kingdom. Nelson was sent to destroy the lat-
ter, but a few days before the treaty of Amiens, and I
believe, for the first and only time in his life, suffered a
severe defeat, about which as little was said in London,
as possible. I was there at the time, and witnessed their
heart-burnings on the occasion. I next came to the out-
posts of Calais, between two and three miles from the
town. It being a time of peace, they were passed with-
out ceremony ; and the next thing that drew my observa-
tion, was passing under the covered way into Calais,
which having done, I supposed myself in the town, but
was mistaken; as there were yet two more to pass
through, before I arrived in the town. I drove to Meu-
rice's, the brother of him with whom I stayed in Paris,
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and having delivered my carriage, and paid the price
agreed upon in Paris, for its hire, of which he was advis-
ed by a letter I brought him, I sat down to an elegant
dinner — my last in France — the pleasure of which was
completely marred by the continued intrusion of the run-
ners for the packets, that plied between Calais and Dover.
They were a perfect nuisance. Three, and four, would
besiege me at a time, each lauding his packet, and his
captain, to the skies, at the expense of all the rest, and
would not take no, for an answer. To get rid of them,
I took a walk about the town. The only thing I saw in
my walk, worthy of particular notice, was a monument
to the patriot Pierre, and his noble followers, who, with
halters round their necks, offered up their lives for their
city.
The next morning, the first of September, I took leave
of my host, and went to the packet On my way, I met
a gentleman, who had just stepped on shore from Eng-
land, on his way to Paris. It was the late William
Aiken, Esq., pf South Carolina, whom I had known from
his boyhood. Our meeting was pleasant, although it
was only to shake hands, and part again. The meeting
with an old acquaintance in a foreign country, under
such circumstances, excites feelings that can only be
appreciated by those who have been similarly situated.
Mr. Aiken died several years ago, in the midst of his
usefulness. His death created a void not easily filled
up ; for he had long ranked among the most enterprising
and useful of Carolina's sons.
19*
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222 REMINISCENCES OF THE
I stepped on board the packet, and in three hours was
at Dover. There were no steam packets then. I visited
the heights and the castle, and seating myself on " Queen
Ann's pocket piece? (a long brass gun, about which more
stories have been told than are true,) I had a fine view
of the country on the English side ; France was still
visible in the distance.
Next morning I started for London. The road was
quite familiar to me, having often travelled k before.
My route lay through Kent, one of the finest counties in
England, and long celebrated for the quantity of hops
that it produces : from some cause or other, however,
there was not more than half the ground cultivated in
them, that I had been accustomed to see. The fields of
ruta baga were very numerous and extensive, the quan-
tity was immense, and a more luxuriant crop could not
be desired. What I was a little surprised at, they were
all sown broadcast. The curricle plough was almost
exclusively used in Kent, where every implement of
husbandry was of the best construction, and kept in per-
fect order, — no better farming any where. I arrived in
London before night, and took up my quarters at ' the
Carolina Coffee House.
LONDON.
September , 2. — The city, at this time, was in one con-
tinued state of excitement, on the subject of the Queen's
trial ; there was a cordon of forty thousand men drawn
around it, within a distance of fourteen, or eighteen miles ;
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 223
while in front of the House of Lords, in which the trial
was progressing, the artillery was drawn up, with lighted
matches, and the Yeomanry Cavalry sat upon their
horses, with swords drawn. The Queen had removed
to Hammersmith, on the bank of the Thames, about six
or seven miles from London, to which place processions
of all classes were daily going, to present their respects
to her majesty, stnd assure her of their kind feelings
towards iier, and their sympathy in her behalf. On one
occasion, five processions went to Hammersmith in one
day — one of which consisted entirely of seamen, to the
number of upwards of five thousand men, marching in
perfect order, with music and marshals. Others in car-
riages, of which there were about fifty elegant landeaus,
all alike, of straw color, each drawn by four horses, with
postillions dressed in scarlet and buff, with velvet jockey
caps, buckskin and boots. They formed a very hand-
some procession, and being in daily use, I presume,
were kept for that purpose. Others, again, consisted of
private carriages and hackney coaches. Thus the great
thoroughfare, through the city, and the road to Hammer-
smith, was daily crowded with them.
While this excitement continued, which was as long as
the trial lasted, his majesty kept snug at the cottage in
Windsor Forest, not choosing to risk his royal person in
town. After the arrival of the imported witnesses from
Italy, the excitement increased daily. It was then the
all-absorbing theme. Messrs. Brougham, Denman, and
Doctor Lushington, were her majesty's counsel. The
two former have long since been elevated to the house
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224 REMINISCENCES OF THB
of peers. Men more fearless in the cause of a client,
never stood up in a court of justice.
The royal brothers were constantly in their seats, and
the conduct of one of them, particularly, was conspicuous
for a marked hostility to her majesty. It was the then
Duke of Clarence, (late William the Fourth,) who elicited
from Mr. Brougham a most tremendous phillippic against
his royal highness. The words have escaped me, but
nothing was ever more severe, or more personal. That
he should afterwards, when he came to the throne, ele-
vate one who had so berated him, to the wool-sack, was to
me a matter of surprise, and gave me a much more favor-
able idea of the character of the sailor king, than I had
ever entertained before.
Among the Italian witnesses against the Queen, was a
fellow by the name of Majocci, whose testimony, if it
could have been believed, would have made her out the
most infamous, among the daughters of infamy ; but when
the villain was cross-examined, it became self-evident
that he was perjured. To every question put to him by
her counsel, with a view to elicit the truth, he made but
one answer, "non my recordo" I do not remember.
After his examination had terminated, the court adjourn-
ed ; it was early in the evening, and in less than an hour,
the whole day's proceedings were being hawfced through
the streets. The- excitement was very great. I toot a
walk through St. James' and New Bond streets, during
which I met with* at least a dozen of those vociferous
news-men, vending their papers with a rapidity which
showed the interest that was taken in their contents. In
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the streets ; at the coffee houses, and wherever men met ;
there was one almost universal expression of abhorrence
for the villain Majocci, who, with his companions, was
compelled to keep close, in the quarters provided for
them, near the house of lords.
There was a book and print seller, on Ludgate Hill,
by the name of Hone ; he was a great friend of the queen,
and kept up a continued issuing of caricatures and
pamphlets, the object of all which was to turn the king
into ridicule and contempt, in which they succeeded, to a
great extent. I became personally, and intimately ac-
quainted with Mr. Hone, who was an accomplished gen-
tleman in his manners, of a ready wit and fine talents.
When I was about leaving London, on my return home,
I purchased a collection of all those pamphlets and prints,
of which I have now but one left, and that is a very
laughable one.
Great fears were entertained, at the time the Ital-
ian witnesses were the most obnoxious, that there would
be an insurrection among the people, and as a listener
and looker on, I thought so too; but a circumstance
occurred, which satisfied many, besides myself, that there
was nothing to be apprehended on that score. It was this :
the troops composing the cordon, interchanged places
weekly, that they might not become too intimate with
the citizens, and consequently be the more ready to do
their master's bidding, if ordered to fire upon them. In
carrying out this plan, a regiment that was quartered in
Islington, were ordered round to High-gate ; it was just
at sunrise when they started, and they were not in per-
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226 REMINISCENCES OF THE
feet close older ; but the people turned out in great num-
bers to see them, as they passed through the turnpike-
gate, and some of them, the people, huzzaed for the
queen, while the soldiers vociferated with all then:
strength for the king ; they had passed on out of sight,
when eight or ten stragglers came up and huzzaed for the
king, the gate keeper immediately did the same for the
queen, when one of the soldiers struck him a blow on the
wrist, with the butt end of his musket, which lamed him
severely, and although there were twenty to one against
the soldiers present, not a soul of them offered to take
the gate keeper's part !
An account of this circumstance was published in the
evening papers, and caused much excitement in the cof-
fee-houses throughout the city. A large portion qf the
people did not believe the story, supposing that the people
would have punished the soldiers severely on the spot
I listened to their remarks upon the subject, without pre-
suming to interfere in a business which did not concern
me ; but, at the same time determined to ascertain the
facts, for my own satisfaction. The widow of my old
friend, Mr. Hood, (mentioned in a former part of these
reminiscences,) lived at Islington. I took a hack to go
and take leave of her, and when I got to the turnpike
gate, without pretending to have heard any thing about
the matter, I questioned the gate keeper, as to what was
the matter with his arm, which was in a sling? He
answered, by relating the whole story, precisely as I had
read it *
That was enough ; I wanted no further, no better evi-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 227
dence, that all the excitement and parade I had witnessed,
was not for the love they bore the queen, but for the hate
they bore the king. A single regiment of dragoons
would have driven fifty thousand of them into the
Thames, leaving the five thousand sailors out of the
question.
The next evening I went to the theatre. The play
was Othello. Keene played the part, and the house
was full. When it came to the scene where Iago tells
his wife, that Desdemona was false to her husband, and
she repels the base assertion with indignation and spirit,
such an uproar commenced, as I never saw before nor
since, in a theatre. For ten minutes, it was doubtful
which would gain the ascendancy, the king's friends, who
hissed the noble conduct of Emila, in the defence of her
injured mistress, or the queen's who applauded. It ter-
minated in a drawn battle. Those and similar circum-
stances satisfied me, that nothing serious was to be
apprehended from an excitement which long ,Jiad, and
still continued to exist.
Thursday, September ISth. — Left London for Mr.
Coke's, (now Earl of Leicester,) in Norfolk, to whom I
had letters, as also, from my Liverpool friends, to Mr.
Taylor, of Ditchingham, near Bungay, Suffolk, and Mr.
Rathbone, jr. My road lay through Essex, a fine county
in general, soil good, and cultivation excellent ; the har-
vest was all in, except the beans. Passed through Lord
Erskine's estate ; the principal produce was young birch,
the twigs of which were cut annually, to make into
brooms, to sweep ship's decks, and other purposes, one
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228 BBMIN ISCBNCB8 OF THB
of which might afford a very unpleasant reminiscence to
a school boy. I arrived at Bungay, ninety-five miles,
about dusk, after a very pleasant day's journey. The
next morning, after breakfast, I walked across the fields
to Ditchingham, about two miles ; found Mr. Taylor at
home, who, after reading my letters, gave me a hearty
English welcome. This gentleman was one of the best
agriculturalists, and agricultural writers, then in England.
Mrs. Taylor was an amiable domestic woman. They
lived in good, but plain style. When I arrived, he was
busy in his barn-yard, overlooking his people, who were
engaged in attending a portable threshing machine, of
three horse power, and cost two hundred and seventy
dollars, which threshed one hundred and sixty bushels per
day, with four men to attend to it Mr. Taylor had, at
the instance of Mr. Coke, with whom he was on the most
friendly terms, made an experiment with ten acres of
wheat, on alternate ridges, of dibbled and drilled. As my
readers may not all understand what is meant by dibbled
wheat, I will tell them. Instead of being deposited in
a drill, by the machine, it is put in by children with their
fingers, putting a few grains at short distances, and cov-
ering it at the same time. The object Was, to ascertain
the difference, if any, in the quantity produced per acre,
in order, if it yielded enough more to pay the difference
in expense, to give employment to poor children. No
experiment was ever more fairly tested ; and the result
was, five acres of the drilled, yielded two hundred and
six bushels, while the five acres of dibbleid, yielded forty-
five bushels and a half to the acre, (average crop twenty-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 229
five bushels,) or two hundred and twenty-eight bushels,
off the five acres ! Ten and a half bushels of wheat
were dibbled upon them, and the total expense, exclusive
of manure, was twenty pounds sterling. Thus the result
proved satisfactory ; and Mr. Taylor wrote me, after
my return to London, that* he had dibbled twenty acres,
and drilled twenty, for the next year's crop. Talavera
wheat produces good crops in Suffolk, when sown in
November. They sowed all their wheat in drills, upon
ridges, of about nine feet wide, with dead furrows be-
tween, in which the horse walked, to hoe it, which was
done with one bout of Blakeley's horse hoe to the ridge,
going up one side, and down the other. This instru-
ment effectually loosened the earth, and cut up all the
weeds between the rows. Potatoes planted in drills,
twenty-eight inches apart, and manured in the drill, pro-
duced an average crop of two hundred and fifty bushels
to the acre.
; Mr. Taylor called my attention to a large pear tree,
which was completely girdled, and was full of fruit, — it
never produced before ! Lucerne, sowed broad cast,
forty pounds to the acre, and yielded abundantly. The
rent of land in this county, (Suffolk,) was from twenty to
forty shillings per acre. Wages of men, twenty pence ;
of women, eight pence ; and boys, four pence, to one
shilling and four pence, per day, and found themselves !
Mr. Taylor had three hundred and sixteen acres, and
paid nineteen hundred and twenty-five dollars rent per
annum. The only kind of plough then in use, in that
county, had but one handle.
VOL. I. 90
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990 BBMIXISCElf CB8 OF THE
Mr. Taylor took me out to ride every day, to view the
neighboring country. Among others, we called on R.
G. Harvey, Esq., who had a farm of seven hundred acres,
was feeding one hundred and thirty bullocks upon tur-
nips, and fifteen hundred sheep ; had a dairy of thirty
cows ; fed three hundred hogs, and kept between sixty
and seventy horses. He had several mills, the offal of
which was given to the stock.
Monday, September 18. — Went with Mr. Taylor to
visit Paul, Esq., at Starson Hall, near Harleston,
Suffolk. I found him an accomplished gentleman, and
experienced agriculturalist, both in theory and practice.
He was a gentlemaa of much ingenuity, which was ex-
hibited in a number of useful inventions, among them a
Raltery, in which he had caught many hundred of those
animals, that had been so very destructive to his stack-
yards. There were the skins of some hundreds of them,
nailed against the front of his barn, in terrorvm. He
had also invented a mode of catching the turnip fly, which
had been very destructive to the crops in that neighbor-
hood ; he used it with great effect. Mr. Rathbone, jun.,
was living with Mr. Paul, to leara practical agriculture,
for which he paid nine hundred dollars pejr annum, and
had to work about three hour? per day. Be;>had the
privilege of keeping a horse ? , fpr, his own use. Many
young gentlemen gave as, high as fourteen and fifteen
hundred dollars, to learn thi? most useful of all profes-
sions. What a highly favored people we Americans are,
in being all born farmers — at least* ope would suppose
so; for no sooner does a mechanic, or store-keeper, get
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 231
a little up in the world, than he immediately purchases a
farm, and retires to the country ; where, having spen*
his means in useless and foolish experiments, he returns
to town, to get that bread, by his profession, which he
did not know how to raise.
Judging from the great number of churches in Suffolk,
in proportion to the population, I presumed that it had
been more densely populated in the olden time. Ther*
was one living, of seven hundred a year, pointed out to me,
which was paid by only seventeen land-holders. Mr.
Taylor informed me, that his tythes, in kind, would
amount to two hundred a year, but he compounded for
seventy guineas. He was a Unitarian, and never entered
the church, nor any of his family.
Tuesday, Sept. 19 — Took leave of Mr. Taylor's fam-
ily. He accompanied me into town, (Bungay,) and wfc
both dined with Mr. Childs, where we met a large party,
assembled for the occasion. The entertainment was a
very handsome one. Mr. Childs was a great stereotype
printer, and had seventeen presses employed in that line
of business. I took leave of my Bungay friends the next
morning, among whom was a Mr. Edwards, an eminent
engraver, who, at parting, presented me with a large roll
of engravings, a number of which now adorn my parlor.
At ten o'clock, started in the coach for Norwich; I
was alone, and very unwell, having partaken too freely of
the choice viands with which my friend Child's table was
loaded the day before. I arrived at Norwich about one
o'clock, and having taken a slight refreshment, took a
guide to view the town. I had a letter to his honor, Mr.
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jft3£ S1MINI8CEHCI8 *F TBI +
Taylor, the mayor, but did not deliver it The object •
that principally excited my attention, was the splendid
ruin of the ancient cathedral. This town had greatly
fallen from its ancient grandeur, and at four I took leave
of it, and continued my journey to Wells, on the sea
coast, where I arrived about eight, not having added any
thing to my stock of agricultural information by this day's
ride.
Next morning, September 20, took a post chaise to
Hqjkham Hall, about three miles ; — the handsome seat
of Mr. Coke. The house was built of brick, of a dirty
yellow color, and was four hundred feet in length. In
the first week of July, annually, this gentleman gave a
three day's entertainment, called " the sheep shearing.*
On those occasions, there generally sat down six or seven
hundred to dinner, the first day ; four or five hundred,
the second ; and three or four hundred, the third. The
diplomatic corps, his royal highness, the Duke of Sussex,
and a large number of the nobilhy and gentry, from dif-
ferent parts of the kingdom, with strangers from abroad,
made up the company. There was an extensive gallery
of statuary and paintings, and so great was the curiosity
of strangers, to visit the mansion of the first farmer in
Europe, that there was a printed volume of two hundred
pages, printed in small duodecimo, entitled, " The Stran-
ger's Guide to Holkham." In passing over the estate, I
noticed a herd of cattle, all of the large, broad horn breed,
also, a field of fifty acres of ruta baga, and another of the
same number of Mangel Wurtzel ; they were by far the
largest and finest fields of those vegetables I ever saw,
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^ LAST IIXTY-PIVE TEARS. 23$
and the estate altogether, in the best possible state of
* *
improvement.
I left Holkham and went to Fakenham, fourteen miles.
This place is rendered famous in an amusing poetical
tale, by Bloomfield, called " The Fakenham Ghost." It
was market day, and there was a handsome display of
cattle and sheep, with a great many fine samples of wheat.
I introduced myself to a number of farmers, told them
the object of my journey, and received from them every
attention, with several samples of very fine wheat. >
I leflShere the next morning, and went by New Mar-
ket and Cambridge, to London, where I took possession
of my old quarters, at the Carolina Coflee-house. The
queen's trial was still progressing* but the feverish excite-
ment had greatly abated. I found my orders had been
executed, as far as possible, by Messrs. Beck and Allen,
for seeds ; and by my other agents for books upon, and
implements of agriculture, all of which were shipped
direct for Baltimore. *
I took passage in the ship London, packet, Captain
Thomas, for New York; and having arrived in the
Downs on a Saturday afternoon, the wind being ahead,
we came to anchor, off Deal ; Captain Thomas was about
discharging his pilot, and asked my opinion. I had been
there several times before, and advised him by no means
to do it. He took my advice, and saved his ship, cargo,
crew and passengers by it.
A gentleman belonging to Salem, Massachusetts, Cap-
tain Bryan, and myself, went on shore, and put up at
the M Three Kings." All the other passengers remained
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■.-.-•■■'. •' • -A- *
* • * \ *
9M . "* KEf INISCEN CBS Q#, #»B
oii^p^r^ ifimg whom was Mr. Niblo, of New York/
since celebrated fo£ Jiis pleasure gardens, then keepe^of
| the Bank Coffee house, in that city.
A tremendous gale came on in the night, and the next
morning, (Sunday,) when I arose, exhibited one of the
most awful scenes of distress ever exhibited in the Downs.
I heard it in the night, my bed-room being directly over
the water, and had my forebodings of the consequences.
I went into the street m the morning, and the first man I
sa^ was the waterman who brought me on shore, the
preceding afternoon. Said he, sir, your ship ».gm*e, but
she is safe in Ramsgate pier. Had she Igindec^ her pilot
the night before, she would inevitably have been lost, as
many others were. *||^ cut and run, leaving her best
bower anchor and cable behind her. Where I stood, in
the street, the sea broke, passed over my head, and the
spray fell upon the roofs of the houses on the other side.
Twenty or thirty sail of vessels had left in the course
of the morning, and all run foi Ramsgate pier ; those
which had pilots on board got safe in, the others, some ten
or a dozen sail, were lost, and every soul on board per-
ished. There were still fifteen sail left at anchor and
without pilots, with signals of distress in their shrouds.
It was a most distressing sight. I was then in the habit
of stump-speaking, and had a tolerable reputation for it.
I mounted the bow of a boat, in the presence of some
two or three hundred watermen, and inspired by the
scene in view, I addressed them, admitted the risk they
would run in attempting to put pilots on board, and told
them it was the common lot of all to die, and they never
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V-v LAl# I4XTY-FIVE TEA|8. *
teould die in a better cauge. I began t^<l$*|>ai* of ***-
ce^t when a noble heartea tar stft^pe^l out. from the
crowd, and said, " Sir, I will go for one. 9 " In seamen's
phrase, the ice was broke, in two minutes there were ten
of them. The boats were deep waisted, and all drawn
up on the strand. I went, with many others, to the
water's edge, and shook the noble hearted fellows by the
hand, as they launched their boat and stepped on board.
The sea was then breaking twenty feet over our heads.
The great danger was in getting outside the breads.
TRey "pushed. off ; it was an anxious moment — the
bystander^ held their breath. We lost sight of them in
the first, second, and third break of the water over them ;
but th$ peal of gladness ascended to Heaven, when we
saw tnem safe beyond them. They went as near the
vessels as was safe to venture, ropes were thrown to
them, and having made them fast under their arms, they
jumped into the s£a" and were drawn on board. In this
way nine vessels weri supplied with pilots, leaving but
one man in the boat, who got safe back to shore. I then
took a post-chase with Captain Bryan, and went to
Ramsgate, distant six, or eight, miles. We went down
the pier where seventeen dead bodies had already been
drawn up. Of a large Hamburg ship there were not ten
feet in breadth of her bottom remaining; of others, there
was not a stick to be seen. The gale had then subsided,
but the wind was directly ahead, and so continued for a
fortnight, during which time the pier was full. It was
near the last of October, and the weather was gener-
ally pleasant. I walked about the neighborhood, and
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236 REMINISCENCES <*F ^HE r
• * *
spfcnt a dayat Margate. The wind still continued con-
trary.
At length the wished- for change came, and in an hour,
or two, a hundred and thirty sail spread their canvass to
the breeze. It was a beautiful sight. We had very
rough weather. After arriving within three days' sail of
our port, we were blown off to the latitude of Bermuda,
drifting at the mercy of the wind and waves for nine
days, without taking our helm out of die beckets. At
leqgth the wind favored us, and we were once more
within two or three days' sail of our port, dhd were
again blown off to the South. At last, on the twpnty-
fourth day, of December, we arrived in New- York, about
eighty days from the time we left London, and the next
day I started for Baltimore.
When I got home, I found my goods had got there
several weeks before me, in good order. I had upwards
of one hundred and fifty kinds of field and garden seeds,
more than fifty of which, were new in the United States ;
also, hay makers, that with one man and a horse made
hay as fast as ten men cut it ; broadcast sowing machines ;
Northumberland drills, and a number of other imple-
ments not recollected, with five hundred volumes of
large and valuable books upon agriculture, containing all
the different reports of counties, made to the board of
agriculture. Having disposed of as many of the seeds
as I could in a year, I gave the balance, some two thou-
sand dollars worth, to the Colonization Society, and
received from Mr. Gurley, the agent, a letter of acknowl-
edgement ; since which I have heard nothing about them,
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. J67
in that I have been disappointed, as I knew |pme of the
colonists, and thought such a present was at least worth
an acknowledgment on their part
JOHN GAILLARD, OP SOUTH CAROLINA.
Written July, 1840.
This .excellent man, and distinguished legislator and
statesman, was suffered to sink into the grave so little
noticed, that I do not know even when he died ; but I
did know the man through a long period of years, and
was thoroughly acquainted with his public services, and
private worth. This gentleman filled the presidential
chair of the Senate of the United States, pro tern., for
ten years, and on one, or more occasions, in the absence
of the vice president, from sickness, he occupied the
chair through the whole session, and was admitted to be
the best presiding officer that ever sat in it. No man
was ever elected to it more than twice, before, or since,
if my memory is correct upon the subject.
Mr. Gaillard possessed, in an eminent degree, the
happy talent of expressing himself in the most clear and
perspicuous manner, and with a purity of language that
is seldom equalled; as the letter, which follows these
remarks, abundantly proves.
As a man of business and tact, he had few superiors ;
and there was a purity of intention, self-evident in all his
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286 REMINISCENCES 6F THE
acts, which showed him to be a man who regarded the
means by which the end was to be obtained — a circum-
stance which is not always attended to by statesmen,
many of whom are very apt to consider the end as justi-
fying the means ; and although it is a favorite principle
of the Florentine school, I think it is better known in the
breach, than in the observance.
His temper was mild ; his friendship warm ; his man-
ners agreeable, and pleasing in the extreme. The great
Lowndes held him in the highest estimation, both as a
public and a private man : I want no better evidence of
his worth in either. They were devoted to each pther,
and messed together at Washington. Few men were
more beloved, none more respected. The purity of his
political principles corresponded with that of his private
life. In fact, he was a man of whon) it may be emphati-
cally said, that
" All the ends he aimed at, were his country's,
His God's, and Truth's."
LETTER FROM THE HON. JOHN GAILLARD — WITHOUT DATE.
It was written about the time of the departure of Mr.
Clay and Mr. Russell for Ghent, as will be seen by its
contents.
Dear Sir — I received with much pleasure your favor
of the 10th, to which I would have replied at an earlier
period, had I not been prevented from doing so by vari-
ous circumstances. The irregularity of the mail is un-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 239
questionably a cause of serious and just complaint, and
should be remedied as speedily as possible ; and more
especially, now that the communication by water is cut
off. Representations have been repeatedly made on this
subject, and it is hoped that measures will be taken by
the proper department, to correct the evil. I have not
had the slightest intimation of an intention, on the part
of government, to remove the present incumbent ; but
should such an event take, place, I shall not fail to hold
in remembrance your wishes, as well as the useful and
patriotic services you have rendered to your country.*
Mr. Bradley has been appointed president of one of
the banks in Georgetown ; hut, if I am correctly informed,
he still holds the appointment in the post office depart-
ment.
The recent proposal of the government of Great
Britain, for instituting negotiations for peace, has been
accepted with promptitude by our executive, and in a
manner clearly indicating that no unnecessary obstacle
will be presented, on his part, to prevent, or delay the
attainment of so desirable an object. Mr. Clay will
probably leave this city to-morrow for New York, where
he will'be joined by Mr. Russell, and from which place
they may be expected to sail in about ten days for Got-
* This alludes to a large number of my friends, who had, unknown
to me, in the first instance, applied to their friends in congress to pro-
mote my appointment to the office of Postmaster General, in case Mr.
Granger was removed; which he was, soon after, and the President
nominated his connection, Mr. Return J. Meigs, the same day, who was
appointed without opposition, as none knew of the vacancy until a new
nomination was made and acted upon.
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240 REMINISCENCES OF THE
tenburg. It seems to be understood that the appointment
of Mr. Adams is complimentary, and that the negotia-
tions will be conducted by Messrs. Bayard, Clay, and
Russell. The speculations as to their result are various :
some making calculations amounting almost to certainty
that they will eventuate in peace; while others, less
sanguine, can see nothing in the present state of Europe,
or in the manner in which the war has been conducted
on our part, to justify the opinion that the British gov-
ernment will be willing to treat on such terms as will
be honorable, or acceptable, to us : — elated by the success
of its allies, and the recent occurrences in Canada, it will
hardly be ready to yield the points we are at war about
The basis on which the British minister proposes to
negotiate, to wit, " upon principles not inconsistent with
the maritime rights of the British Empire," does not pro-
mise a favorable issue, unless a more limited interpreta-
tion be given to the extent of those rights, than any
heretofore contended for. On this point, you are enabled
to judge as correctly as we can, possessing, as you do,
all the information which we have on the subject
But, terminate the negotiations as they may, I am
happy to state, that the commencement and progress of
them will not lull us into a state of inactivity ; as a deter-
mination prevails to make the most efficient preparations
for a vigorous prosecution of the war, from a just and
well-founded conviction, that the most effectual means to
procure peace, is, to show your enemjr that you possess
the disposition, as well as the ability, to assert and main-
tain your rights.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 241
With this object in view, an act has just passed, giving
a bounty of one hundred and twenty-four dollars to every
able bodied man who will enlist for five years, or during
the war — fifty dollars to be paid to the recruit when
enlisted, fifty dollars when he shall be mustered, and the
remaining twenty-four dollars on the termination of the
war. This bounty may, by some, be considered as
enormous ; but the demand for labor is so high, that it
is believed nothing short of what is offered will prevail.
The fact also is, that the deficiency in the rank and file
of the army is such as to demand a prompt remedy ; and
circumstanced as we are, to hesitate about incurring this
additional expense, great as it may be, would be, in my
judgment, to practise a mistaken economy, and to with-
hold what, might vitally affect the best interests of the
nation. I confess that, with even these means, I am
apprehensive that we shall not get an adequate force
sufficiently early in the field ; but, although the war has
not been conducted well, I do not despair of the republic,
provided we profit by our errors, and make a judicious
selection of officers to direct the operations of our army.
The exertions which the British are making to obtain
a naval ascendancy on Lake Ontario, and the start they
have of us, cannot but excite alarm as to what may hap-
pen in that quarter, where we have so much at stake,
and on the issue of which success must so materially
depend. Commodore Chauncey will have an arduous
time and much to struggle against ; but all that man can
do, I expect from him, as he is unquestionably an officer
of the first merit
vol. l *
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942 mxxrNiscBNCBt of thb
Our government, from motives of humanity, has been
averse to the employment of the Indians. This was cor-
rect, at the commencement of the war, in order to give
them an opportunity of enjoying the advantages resulting
from neutrality. But surely, the humanity which would
any longer spare the enemy, and leave our defenceless
women and children exposed to the tomahawk and scalp-
ing knife, would be highly criminal. Under this state of
things, we should measure out to the British as they
measure out to us ; and this, it is said, General Harrison is
authorized to do, by employing the Indians to act against
them.
The practice of congressional nomination, to which
you have alluded, has taken too deep a root, to be now
shaken, and will, I apprehend, continue to be the manner
of appointing to the presidential chair. I have never
attended a caucus, from a conviction that it was an usur-
pation of power on the part of the members of congress ;
and that although it was adopted, in the first instance,
from good motives, its inevitable tendency would be to
produce intrigue, and the adoption of improper and un-
worthy means to procure a nomination.
The possession of your good opinion is highly flatter-
ing to me, and I feel truly grateful for the expression of
your friendly feelings towards me, which I assure you I
reciprocate with great sincerity. All I can boast of, is,
purity of intention ; and I trust that no selfish considera-
tion, or improper motive, will ever influence my conduct
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LAST SIXTY-FIVB TSARS. 243
I shall hope to hear from you whenever convenient to
you to write, and I shall continue to do so with freedom.
I am, dear Sir,
Yours, with great regard and esteem,
E* a TaoMtf, Esq. JOHN GAILLARD.
JOHN HANCOCK,
PRESIDENT Of THB FIRST CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES*
Written July, UK.
The memory of this great patriot, statesman, and ora*
tor, has been most grossly neglected. While hundreds,
whose services in the cause of Independence were not a
tythe of his, have been eulogized to the skies, and live on
canvas and in marble, this great patriot's name but sel-
dom finds a place, even when celebrating that freedom
he was among the very first, if not the first, to risk his
life in obtaining. I have, for years, noticed this neglect,
with feelings of unfeigned regret
Never was a man more beloved by any people, than
Hancock was by the people of Massachusetts. With
the exception of a single year, when Bowdoin wasjwtf
in, he was, for sixteen successive years, elected their gov-
ernor, and closed his patriotic and illustrious life in that
high station. Hundreds of times have I seen him, when
so worn out, and crippled by disease, that he could not
stand, taken from his carriage into the arms of two faith-
ful servants, (who regularly attended for the purpose,)
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244 REMINISCENCES OF THE
and carried up to the council chamber, a distance of nearly
fifty yards from the street. The last time he addressed
his fellow citizens, was the most impressive scene I ever
witnessed. A town meeting was called, upon a question
of great excitement Old Faneuil Hall could not contain
the people, and an adjournment took place to the old
South Meeting-house. Hancock was brought in, and
carried up into the front gallery, where the Hon. Benja-
min Austin supported him on the right, and the celebra-
ted Dr. Charles Jarvis upon the left, while he addressed
the multitude. The governor commenced, by stating to
his fellow citizens, that " he felt" it was the last time he
should ever address them — that " the seeds of mortality
were growing fast within him? The fall of a pin might
have been heard, such a death-like silence pervaded the
listening crowd, during the whole of his animated and
«oul stirring speech, while tears ran down the cheeks of
thousands.
The meeting ended, he was conveyed to his carriage,
and taken home, but never again appeared in public —
his death followed soon after. The corpse was embow-
elled, and kept for eight days, to give an opportunity to
the citizens, from the most distant parts of the State, to
render the last tribute of respect to his memory. They
came by thousands, and tens of thousands — the proces-'
sion was an hour and a half in passing. The post of
honor, among the military, was given to the Concord
Light Infantry, under Captain Davis, the same who com-
manded them on the ever memorable nineteenth of April,
'75. It was the most solemn, and interesting, and incom-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YBAR8. 245
parably the longest, funeral procession I ever saw. —
Samuel Adams, who was lieutenant governor, became
governor, ex officio, by the death of Hancock, and fol-
lowed the bier, (there were no hearses, with nodding
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246 REMINISCENCES OF THE
It was this oration which first prepared the minds
of men to resist the oppression of the British government.
From the day it was delivered, it was the determination
of thousands, that at the first opportunity afforded them,
they would burst the bands that bound them, and abide
the consequences. Four years after, the opportunity
was presented, at Lexington, and our nation's independ-
ence was the result.
Hancock, before the Revolution, was a man of vast
fortune; and although he permitted it to flow, in the
cause of his country, like water, he had still enough left
to support a splendid establishment, and lived and enter-
tained like a prince. His generosity was unbounded. I
well remember that one evening in each week, during
summer, a full band of music, at his own expense, attend-
ed in front of his venerable stone mansion, at the head
of the common, to entertain the citizens who were pro-
menading on the mall. He seldom left Boston to visit
at any distance, but when he did, he was always escorted
by a volunteer troop of cavalry, who held themselves in
readiness for that purpose. He was very fond of joke
and repartee, so much so, that a worthy citizen of Boston,
Nathaniel Balch, Esq., a hatter, who never failed to ap-
pear among the invited guests at his hospitable board,
obtained the unenvied appellation of " the Governor's Jes-
ter." The celebrated Brissot, in his travels in the Uni-
ted States, speaks of his meeting this gentleman at Han-
cock's table; and such was the mutual attachment be-
tween the governor and Mr. Balch, that if the former
was called away, no matter what distance, 'Squire Balch
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEAR8. 247
attended him, like his shadow, which the following cir-
cumstance most happily illustrates. Governor Hancock
was called on to visit the then province of Maine, on
which occasion he travelled in state, and was attended
by the Hon. CoL Orne, one of the Executive council, and
Nathaniel Balch, Esq. Their arrival at Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, was thus humorously announced : —
"On T/iursday last, arrived in this town, Nathaniel
Balch, Esq., accompanied by his Excellency, John Han-
cock, and the Hon. Azor Orne, Esq."
These events of by-gone days, have been brought to
my recollection by the following short paragraph, from
the New York Evening Star :
Valuable Relic. — We have had left with us, at
our office, for inspection, the principal commission, ap-
pointing John Hancock first Major General of the Mas-
sachusetts colony. It is dated May 30, 1776.
THE ISLE OF WIGHT — EARL MOIRA.
Written February, 1838.
This island, which is the brightest gem in the British
crown, was, according to tradition, once a part of Eng-
land, and was separated by the action of the sea. How-
ever that may be, it is a most beautiful and productive
spot — one year's production being equal to five year's
consumption. Add to which, the scenery, naturally very
beautiful, is highly embellished by art ; abounding in vil-
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248 REMINISCENCES OF THE
las and gardens. The sea port is Cowes, a dirty little
town, without a hotel or decent inn, unless they have
been built in the last twenty years. A great number of
vessels from the United States, used to call at this port
lor orders ; while those bound to the United States, called
there for passengers — many preferring to wait there, to
going on board at Graves End.
In October, 1803, 1 had been there but a day or two,
before I learnt there was a neat little town, near the cen-
tre of the island, called Newport, where there were two
or three respectable inns, and one, (the Bugle,) very
superior. The coach went every two hours, and I lost
no time in getting out of such a dirty hole as " the Dol-
phin," at Cowes. The distance was about seven miles,
and in less than two hours, I found myself in the enjoy-
ment of every comfort, at the Bugle. The town has
good streets, laid out at right angles, and is a most desi-
rable residence, having pleasant walks and beautiful rides
in every direction. About a mile from the town are the
ruins of Carysbrook Castle, celebrated as having been
the place where Charles the First was confined, and from
whence he had nigh made his escape. Also for a citadel,
then in good preservation, although built by the Saxons,
in the seventh century.
As nothing could be of more importance to the occu-
pants of an ancient castle, than a supply of good water,
the builders of this had taken unusual pains to secure so
desirable an object. In the court yard was a well three
hundred feet deep, two hundred of which was dug
through solid rock ; and, notwithstanding the eminence
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 249
on which the castle stood, was sunk a number of feet
below the surface of the sea. There was an hundred
feet of pure water in the well, which was drawn in a
bucket the size of a barrel, by a jack walking in a wheel.
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250 HBMINI8CENCB8 O* THB*
waiting for a ship to take me on board atCowes. * After
this explanation, I accepted the invitation, and sent an
answer accordingly.
In about an hour, preceded by my host, I waited on
his lordship, and was introduced ; my reception was all
that could be wished. The Earl then informed me, that,
learning from our host that I was from the United States,
he had sought my acquaintance, in the hope that I would
give him information of some of his old acquaintances of
the revolutionary war. My readers will all recollect
that in the history of that war, the Earl made a very con-
spicuous figure, as Lord Rawdon. I was pleased to
have it in my power to gratify his lordship far beyond
his expectations, and after an excellent supper of beet
steak and oysters, with a bottle of old port, we found the
night bad crept into the morning, before we parted. I
gained much information from him of the then situation
of affairs, both in England and on the Continent. The
next day^I took a drive with him to Ryde, and the day
after, out to the barracks, where he made me acquainted
with a great many officers ; I was thus in the high road
to the most agreeable society imaginable, when I receiv-
ed a note that the ship was at Cowes, and I must be on
board the next morning at ten. It was most provoking,
but there was no help for it, so I made the most of it, by
having the Earl to sup with me, with a gentleman of the
town who had previously shown me some attention, and
the next morning took the eight o'clock coach for Cowes.
I passed the barracks without having an opportunity of
saying good-by to any old, or new acquaintances, which
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LAST SIXTY-PIVB TEARS. 251
was HgfHcieQtljr disagreeable ; but a much more painful
occurrence awaited me : I hail not got a mile further,
whpn I met a company of infantry escorting forty-eight
deserters, in irons, and when I reflected on the severe
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252 REMINISCENCES OF THE
in every direction, in evident distress and terrbr ;" the do-
mestic fowls ran about in all directions, cackling as in
a fright. Horses galloped round their pastures neighing ;
while the horned cattle, which seemed more affrighted
than the rest, tore'up the earth with their horns and feet
in madness — all this uproar was followed by the silence
of midnight, when the eclipse was complete ; the birds
retired to their resting places, the fowls to theft: roosts,
the horses to their stalls, and the cattle to their mangers,
while the stars shone forth in their beauty, and all was
still
When the sun began to re-appear, a large number of
musicians, students of Brown University, assembled upon
the terrace of the college, and struck up Milton's Hymn
to Light. The effect was altogether sublime and beau-
tiful. Nothing that ever met my eye or ear, before or
since, was ever equal to it.
SAMUEL ADAMS.
There are few subjects. that afford me more satisfac-
tion than looking back upon my youth, and searching the
store-house of memory for those facts then laid up in it
for future use. In the pursuit of this object I, some two
years since, wrote reminiscences of John Hancock, which
I have the satisfaction of knowing, were prized by his
descendants, and read with avidity by thousands in Mas-
sachusetts, and elsewhere.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 253
I have taken for my subject on this occasion, recollec-
tions of Samuel Adams, who, though not " a hero with-
ouKexample," was " a patriot without reproach." In f
speaking of circumstances so long passed, I shall speak
only of what I know ; never having read " the biography
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence," I
know not what account may there be given of any of
them. I never saw Mr. Adams until the year 1792 ; he
was then far in the vale of years, with a constitution
which was, judging from his appearance, naturally strong,
but then nearly worn out, not with toil, but care. He
still continued to use all the exercise his strength would
admit, by visiting, almost daily, a Mr. Hughs, a consta-
ble, a respectable calling in Boston in those days, what-
ever it may be now. They had been friends from early
life, and the same intimacy was common between their
respective ladies. Mr. Adams was then lieutenant-gov-
ernor, a place of honor, with but little profit, and no duty
at all, except in case of tHe death of the governor, when*
ez-ojficio, the duties of the executive devolved upon the
lieutenant. Mr. Adams lived in a large old fashioned
frame house, on Winter street, which had once been
painted yellow, but, like its venerable owner, was a good
deal the worse for wear. He entertained little or no
company, having neither the means nor the inclination to
do it. He was poor.
On the death of Governor Hancock, he walked as chief
mourner, preceded only by the Hancock piece of artil-
lery. (It is proper here to remark, that the first cannon
taken from the British in the war of the Revolution, were «
vol. l «
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354 REMINISCENCES OF THE
two brass four pounders, on one of which was engraven,
by order of the State, the name of John Hancock, and on
the other, Samuel Adams, with appropriate devices.)
Before the almost interminable procession had reached
State street, Mr. Adams 9 strength failed him, and he re-
tired. He had then become ex-officio Governor of the
State, and at the next election was confirmed in his high
office by the votes of the people. The then salary of the
Governor of Massachusetts, if my memory serves, was
a thousand pounds currency, or $4,444 — but a very
small sum towards enabling the incumbent of the Guber-
natorial chair, to follow the example, in style and hospi-
tality, set by Hancock, who lived, and entertained like a
prince. Mr. Adams possessed neither carriage nor
horses, but he had been elected Governor but a few
weeks, when some gentlemen of Boston, presented the
venerable patriot with a new and handsome chariot, and
a pair of as fine horses as there were in the city. The
first use he made of his new equippage, shows the man in a
point of view too rare not to be admired ; seating himself
beside his venerable lady, they drove to Constable Hughs',
where the governor alighted, and handing Mrs. Hughs
into his seat, the two old ladies drove off together, whilst
he staid and talked with his old friend, and I stood by
devouring their discourse.
In 1793, theatrical entertainments were first introduced
into Boston after the Revolution. There was an express
law against them. Application was made to the legisla-
ture to repeal the law, and it passed both houses ; but
Mr. Adams was then governor, and refused to sign it ;
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 255
and we doubt whether it has ever been repealed to
this day.
It is recorded of Mr. Adams, that a large sum was
offered him by agents of the British government, to take
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256 REMINISCENCES OF THE
make even memorandums) in the order in which I
travelled.
I left home on Sunday, March 27th, on board a steam
boat for Wheeling, where I arrived on Wednesday
morning, and found the town greatly improved, in size,
beauty, and business, since I had seen it, eleven years
before. Here I met with an old friend, Ely Dorsey,
Esq., who treated me with hospitality, and offered me
his services in promoting the sale of this work. I left
Wheeling in the afternoon. In my passage to and over
the mountains, I saw nothing worth particular notice.
The spring was cold and backward.
At Cumberland, on enquiry, I found that the Chesa-
peake and Ohio canal had not reached there, and that it
would require a million of dollars more to bring it to
that place.
When I passed through the beautiful counties of
Washington and Frederick, in Maryland, they presented
vegetation rapidly advancing, and spring arrayed in all
her beauty. Worn out with fatigue, I stopped at Frede-
rick two or three days, to recruit, and was immediately
struck with the little improvement that had taken place
in the city since I saw it, eleven years before. The
cause was plain to me : it was the railroad, which car-
ries every thing through, and leaves nothing behind ; the
very source which they looked to for prosperity, has dried
up all their former sources of it, and property has fallen
greatly in consequence.
The operation of railroads, so far as some twelve or
fifteen hundred miles of travel upon them, in the last three
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LA8T SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 257
months, give me an opportunity of judging, is simply
this: — to build up large towns at each end of the line
of road, where that line is of any considerable length,
at the expense of all the intermediate towns ; which may
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258 REMINISCENCES OF THE
up to such a body. Joseph Gales, Esq., of the National
Intelligencer, gave me a cordial and hearty welcome.
At the expiration of three days, I left the city, on my
way to Charleston, by way of Fredericksburg, Virginia,
and Wilmington, North Carolina ; and never was I more
agreeably surprised, than when I found the much abused
" Old Rip Van Winkle," — as North Carolina is face-
tiously called — had, while he was supposed to havp
been asleep, made the longest railroad in the world, (one
hundred and sixty-one and a half miles,) and at a less
price than ever was paid before.
The line of conveyance from Washington to Charles*
ton /is as follows : — From Washington, by steamboat,
down the Potomac, to Potomac creek; from thence,
by stage nine miles, to Fredericksburg, Virginia ; from
thence, by railroad, to Wilmington, N. C. ; and from
thence, by steamboat, to Charleston. The whole ex-
pense of this long line of conveyance, (from six to seven
hundred miles,) including three or four steamboats at
each end of it, and a dozen coaches to run to and from
Fredericksburg, all the rest railroad, did not exceed two
millions of dollars ! ! From Wilmington, the road is as
straight as a line can be drawn, for fifty miles, with here
and there a slight embankment, or cut ; but a very large
proportion of it is a natural level ; and there are, at hand,
the whole lingth of the road, materials to keep it in
repair. The roali is well and substantially made ; and
the travel over it, as near as I could judge from passing
it twice, about thirty-five persons, each way, per day.
The country through which it passes, is miserably poor.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEA/IS* ?59
The fare is thirty dollars from Washington to Charleston,
besides meals, which are fifty cents each. Time gene-
rally about sixty hours-*- has been done in less than
forty-eight !
CHARLESTON, $. C.
I arrived in this city about the twelfth of April. That
part of the city north of Broad street, was so totally
altered, with some trifling exceptions upon East Bay
street, that I could not bring to my remembrance any
part of it; nor could it be expected that I should, when
it is considered that the frame buildings which constituted
a very large portion of it, were all destroyed in the great
conflagration upwards of two years ago, as well as most
of the brick ones, and that the streets have many of them
been widened, and all rebuilt with new and elegant brick
buildings, public and private.
But it is not in the buildings alone, that there are such
great changes ; they are equally as great in those that
inhabit them. The generous hospitality ; the chivalrous
spirit ; the high and noble bearing ; have, and are, giving
place to contracted views and habits, so different from
the days of the olden time, that it is difficult to suppose
that they are the descendants of the same people. I looked
around me in vain for most of those friei^b that were
once so near and so dear to me — but jflfey were not to
be found ; they slept with their fathers, and their sons
occupied their places. Twenty-four years had made a
chasm, which to me must ever remain one — even time
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260 REMINISCENCES OF THE
cannot fill it up. Pinckney, Lehre, Blanding, Geddes,
Hayne, Lance, Hunt, Simmons, and hundreds of others,
all, all are gone. 1 walked the streets for two hours
without meeting with a face that I knew, or one that ap-
peared to know me. I was seriously thinking whether
I would not immediately return to whence I came, when
a gentleman accosted me by name, in whom I recog-
nized a friend of forty years' standing. Another and an-
other came, and I found, although many were dead, there
were still some among the living, to bid me welcome. —
Many of the sons knew me, from having heard their fa-
thers speak of me, and sought acquaintance with their
father's friend. William Patton, Esq., took me to his
house, insisting I should make it my home. His brother-
in-law, Thomas Kerr, Esq., was alike hospitable in his
attentions ; so was Mr. Conner, Doctor Porcher, Richard
Yeadon, jun., Esq., and a number of others, among them,
that fine, venerable, old school gentleman, Roger Herri-
ot, Esq., who treated and entertained me like a brother.
But of the host of those who did me the honor of their
visits, at different times, in Cincinnati, Mr. R. Yeadon,
jun., only was at home !
After a visit of fifteen days, and having sought sub-
scriptions to my Reminiscences, to any extent, in vain ?
not having received as many, by one half, as would pay
me for what 4he Cincinnati and Charleston Railroad has
cost me, I took leave of my friends, and returned to
Washington, and from thence continued on to
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BALTIMORE.
Thus, after an absence of twelve years, I found myself
again in the monumental city, and received a hearty wel-
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262 REMINISCENCES OF THE
the other forced on to its terminus at the Ohio, without
loss of time, and all may yet be well, both for Baltimore,
and the District of Columbia.
After sixteen days spent in Baltimore, with very little
success to my literary enterprise, I left it for Philadel-
phia, where the National Gazette, Chronicle, Ledger, and
some other papers, called the public attention to my
work, after having seen samples of it, in a manner highly
creditable, both to the work and its author. They will
please accept my best acknowledgements.
Having been eight days in Philadelphia, I went to New
York, where hospitality and kindness met me at every
turn. My old friend Noah, of the " Star" gave me a
cordial greeting, both through his press, and at his house ;
so did Mr. Townsend, of the Express. My old friend
Brooks, was on a visit to my house, in Cincinnati, about
the same time. So did Major Van Buren, at whose
house I staid ; not the prince, but a cousin of his. Then
there was Mr. Howard, whose hospitality is of the old
school, which always comes from the heart of the ofierer,
and cannot fail to reach that of the recipient ; with oth-
ers, not now recollected. Handsome notices of my forth-
coming work, and its author, appeared in numerous pa-
pers throughout the Union, about this time. The editors
who wrote those notices, most of them, are personally
unknown to me, but know me as an editor of long stand-
ing, and have seen numerous samples of the work itself.
From New York I went to
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NEW HAVEN,
The Athens of the East, as Cincinnati is of the West.
Here my old friend, T. G. Woodward, Esq., editor of the
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264 REMINISCENCES OF THS
upon itself, and looks into its own resources, will make
the dullest think, and thinking, they must learn.
Her avenues ; her public squares ; her shaded streets ;
her beautiful churches ; the elegant architecture of such
a great number of her private dwellings, surrounded with
shrubberies and flower garden^, all, all conspire to make
her the "Eden" of the Atlantic States.
I will now look into some of the apartments of this
great temple of learning and science. First, then, here
is the splendid collection of minerals, &c, made by the
late Col. George Gibbs, and presented by him to the
State, for the benefit of the college; this collection far
surpasses any other in the United States, as far as I can
learn. It is arranged and classified in a manner worthy
the head that dictated, and the hand that did it, Professor
Silliman. In lecturing upon this beautiful cabinet, those
who have heard him, assert that the learned professor
dives into the very arcanum of nature, and makes the
earth yield up her secrets to him that he may promul-
gate them for the benefit of his race.
Little did I think, when a young man, and spending
my time jft Providence for weeks and months together,
with George Gibbs, that he would ever have presented
to his country and to science, such a collection, which,
independent of its real vafee, from the difficulty of making
it* is above all price.
Wfce next object to which my attention was directed,
was die library, in which truth compels me to say, I was
greatly disappointed. Such a library, in such an institu-
tion, does no credit to those who have the government
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 265
of it, particularly as, if I am correctly informed, they
have the funds that wouW make it what it ought to be.
The next apartment that attracted my attention was the
picture gallery, filled with the productions of the pencil
of the venerable Col. Trumbull : this was a treat ; partic-
ularly the scenes from our Revolutionary History ; " all
of which he saw, and part of which he was." It is a
fortunate circumstance that these paintings have been
kept together. A generation or two hence, the acts
of our Revolutionary sires will begin to be apprecia-
ted as they ought to be ; but that most desirable period
never can arrive, until our citizens generally, shall have
imbibed the idea that there are other objects that require
our attention in life, besides making money. At present,
in a national point of view, that is the only object.
The gentlemen, professors, who attended me in these
examinations, will please accept my thanks for their polite
attention. I would name them, but their names have
escaped me.
In a long conversation with Doctor Webster, I found
that his mind was strong, clear, and active as ever ; his
conversation was full of that spirit and vivacity not often
to be met with in one of his years. No man in the United
States, and I may add, Great Britain, (for she, too, has
adopted his dictionary as the stdhiard of our language,)
has done so much for education as this great lexicogra-
pher, who, I rejoice to find, enjoys a green old age. * •
Judge Daggett. This profound lawyer, and great
civilian, is so full of activity, both of mind and body, that
it might be deemed libellous to speak of his age; there
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266 R«MIltisOKHCES OF T* «
are so few over fifcy-fiv* that can compete with hinK
He has great conversational powers, and abounds in in-
formation which he freely dispenses to others, frequently
with great humor.
Judge Baldwin. — This fine old-school gentleman
was formerly professor of law in the college, and a dis-
tinguished lawyer ; *e latter he still continues to be. He
has the distinguished merit of having educated Professor
SHliman for the bar, and being among the first to discover
that his mind was suited to, and his services were wanted,
in a totally different branch of science ; which led to his
being sent to Europe, to acquire a thorough knowledge
of that branch (mineralogy) over which he has presided
since his return, with honor and reputation, both to him-
self and his country, until the name of Silliman, and sci-
ence, have become synonymous terms.
The ladies of New HaVen partake largely of those
noble qualities of the mind, for which the gentlemen are
so eminently distinguished. In form, and personal attrac-
tions, I have not seen their superiors. The students, too,
give evidence, that while Virgil and Horace are their
4aHy companions, Ovid is not entirely. neglected; and
hence it is, that so many of these beautiful and accom-
plished ladies, find husbands among the students from the
sunny South. » '
From New Haven I went to
* providence;
Where I was received by a friend, dearer to me than
a brother, in the person of the Hon. Samuel W. Bridg-
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ham, mayor of the city ; with "all that fervor of friendship
/which ha* existed between us for forfy-four years, con-
stantly increasing in strength as it advanced in time, first
extending to his amiable and noble hearted lady, and from
them to their children, and their children's children.
After an absence of twenty-four years, to meet with such
a greeting, was no small compensation, for the toil,
trouble and anxiety, I had passed through in that long
period ; but it was not confined to them, it extended to
their friends, and my other old friends ; and their papers
have proclaimed with what cordiality I was received by
thousands of the citizens in a public meeting. It is but an
act of gratitude in me, to the citizens of Providence, to
state two or three facts, in relation to myself, which
occurred in that town soon after I became a resident of
it, in 1804 and 1805,
No man can be a voter, in Rhode Island, without being
first a property holder, and then voted in by the property
holders of the town where his property lies. I had no
sooner become a property holder, than I was voted in at
the first town meeting thereafter. Not long after, an
election for governor took place. I wrote my signature
on the back of my vote, without recollecting that the
charter required my name at full length, and deposited it
in the box. Col. Henry SmifE^who was one of the can-
didates for Governor, called to me and asked me if I,had
not made a mistake. I told him what I had done* A
motion was immediately made, that the box be opened,
and that I have leave to withdraw my vote and* deposit
another, which was carried without a dissenting voice.
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268 REMINISCENCES OF THE *
The next year I was married, and took possession of
my house, over the hill, near Govornor Fennels ; coming
into market one morning, I met Judge Howell, I saw
there was mischief lurking in his eye, when he took off
his hat, and bowed to me most profoundly ; I returned
the compliment, when he began by remarking what a
fortunate man I was, to have such honors conferred upon
me, after such a short residence, while he, who had been
residing there for a great many years had never received
any such. I asked him to explain ; he went on remark-
ing, that honors continued to be heaped upon me. There
was a street which led directly to his house, which coun-
cil had, the day before, named " Thomas street," and it is
still called by that name. I then told him I was grateful
for the honor conferred upon me, and for the very hand-
some manner in which he was pleased to inform me of it
I had not heard of it before. I then expressed my regrets
that he had so long been unfortunate and neglected, and
wished him better luck in future ; after a laugh, and a
shake of the hand we separated. Such circumstances,
whatever they may be to others, are to me, sources of
pleasant reminiscences, as illustrative of the good feelings
of my fellow citizens towards me.
Providence has more than doubled in her population,
in my absence, and in adftity and stir in her streets of
business, I have seen nothing to surpass it in my travels
th»«ummer, but Broadway, New York.' I was there
but three or four days, and had not time to visit her insti-
tutions #f learning, &c, with the single exception of the
Atheneum ; this building is very substantially built, of the
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 260
most durable materials, and in very good taste ; but what
is of more importance, its library is large, very select, and
kept in the best possible order. Brown University has
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270 REMINISCBNCBS OF Til
tiful residences here, and form a small, but very pleasant
and select society. It is six miles from Worcester, at which
town I arrived on the morning of the 17th of June, when
tie people were pouring in from all parts of the State,
by thousands, to form a convention to nominate candi-
dates for Governor, and Lieutenant Governor, and cele-
brate the anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. It
was a splendid spectacle, second only to that of Balti-
more.
This town has trebled in size since last I saw it ; but
it evidently draws its principal support still, from its be-
ing the county seat, and that, too, of a county larger than
the whole State of Rhode Island. I had supposed that,
with its canal for water power, and its railroad for con-
veyance, it would have become a great manufacturing
town ; but I see no prospect of it at present I have
been there three or four times, within a month, but only
once to spend the day, and that was of a Sunday, so that
I have had no opportunity of seeing the Antiquarian
Hall, or visiting the noble institution for the insane, which
is on a large scale, and said to be most admirably con-
ducted. It belongs to the State, and is under the super-
vision of the Legislature of course.
I entered the court-house once, where the contrast be-
tween now, and upwards of half a century ago, was very
stalking. Then the superior court consisted of five judges ;
le^s than three could' not hold a court There was Dana,
Cushing, Sumner, Paine, and Sewell, and Attorney Gene-
ral Sullivan, with his crooked leg foremost Then there
was Sheriff Greenleaf, from Lancaster, marching before
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 271
them, like a turkey cock before a hen and six chickens,
with his gold laced scarlet coat, vest, and cocked hat, and
dress sword, with his long white wand in his hand, and
when he reached the court-house steps, he stepped aside,
and stood uncovered until their honors had walked in,
when he brought up the rear, and took his elevated seat
in a little box, on the right hand, and in front of and facing
the judges. There he set up his wand, hung his gold-
laced hat upon it, and looked authority, while directly
opposite to him, in a box exactly similar, sat Mr. Bridge,
the crier, with his smooth face, and nicely powdered bush
wig, (he was a barber,) dressed neat as a pin. Woe to
the unlucky wight that made a noise while he sat there ;
and then, to hear him open and adjourn the court ; such
eloquence and dignity — why, I would not have missed
it for ninepence. Then there was the Bar, qonsisting of
Levi Lincoln, Esq., at the head, with his bald crown, and
pleasant, smiling face ; but he looked as blue as indigo
at me once, when he found me laying down in his grass,
picking strawberries. Then there ^as Edward Bangs,
Esq. ; he too had a head finely fitted fpr a phrenological
examination, for there was little or no hair on it ; and
Nathaniel Paine, Esq., a very sedate, prim-looking gen-
tleman ; these three were of Worcester. Then there
"was John Sprague, Esq., of Lancaster, sour as vinegar,
and made me run once like a leg treasurer, when he
came nigh catching me stealing nuts off a shell-bark tree,
in his grounds. Then there was Dwight Foster, Esq.
a fine, fat, talented, jolification old school gentleman as
ever was ; and Pliny Merrick, Esq., who looked as nice
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272 REMINISCENCES OF THE
^as if he was just out of a bandbox, when he had on his
brigade major's uniform ; both him and 'Squire Foster,
Brookfield : and although last, not least, for
ar twice the size of Mr. Bangs, came i^olompn
sq., of Leominster — he would make a witness
F he was an honest man when he began with
tiis cross examination ; and those were all. So
much for a court in the olden time. When I left Wor-
cester, forty-eight years ago, two brothers, Trask, I think
their name was, had been on trial for horse stealing, a
few years. When I was at Worcester, the other day,
I forgot to enquire whether the trial was finished yet
or not.
I was in Boston about a month ago, but was only there
a few hours, as no further delay in putting this work to
press could be admitted.
During all my journeyings since I left home, I have
had an eye to the state of the crops, and a fine opportu-
nity of seeing them. The crop of hay, which is already
secured, is at least equal to any that has preceded it —
Passing back and forth through the largest portion of
Connecticut, and the State of Rhode Island, with the best
part of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, and parts
of several other States, and not satisfied with my own
observation, after so long an absence, I have made dili-
gent enquiry, which amounts to this — that the crop of
rye was never better ; that oats would be a full average,
if not a great crop. The corn is unusually forward ; I
saw fields of it beginning to tassel July the 6th, both
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274 RBMINISCEiaiS OF THE
too negligent of such thiiiga* We* have especially neg-
lected to avail ourselves of the communications we might
have gathered from the sohBers of the revolution, a vast
many of whom have been able and willing, (and some of
whom still are,) to furnish us with precious records.
We notice that a Mr. Chase has lately deceased in New
Hampshire, who was a private in the militia, which re-
lieved the Pennsylvania line, at West Point, in 1780.
Mr. C, with several others, being off duty, was on the
shore of the Hudson when Arnold deserted. When
Washington assigned him the command of West Point,
he left his own barge in his possession. A temporary
hut was erected on the east shore, for the accommodation
of the four oarsmen who managed the barge. On the
morning of the desertion, Arnold rode down to the shore,
from his head quarters at Robinson's farm, very fast, as
was his custom ; threw the reins to his attendant, and
ordered the barge to be manned. He then directed his
course towards thetPoint ; but on reaching the middle of
the river, the boat was observed to take a course down
stream, and move very swiftly through the water.
The explanation was afterwards made by the boatmen.
He hoisted a flag of truce, and told them to pull for the •
Vulture, sloop of war, which lay below, saying that he
had some business with the captain, and promised if they
would row him down to her as soon as possible, to give
them a guinea and a gallon of rum each. On nearing
the Vulture, and being within range of her guns, Arnold
opened his plaa, saying, " I have served the ungrateful
scoundrels long enough," and declared if they would go
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LAST SIXTY- FIVE TEARS. 275
with him they should have Rouble pay, and be made ser-
geants in the British service. One of the men replied
that "he did not understapd fighting on both sides." , ♦
" Then," ,said the General, " you are prisoners."
When they came along side the sloop of war, Arnojtt
ascended the deck, and was received by the marines with
presented arms. He then ordered his men to come on
board as prisoners of war. One of them, who had been
their spokesman just before, said " it was a shabby trick,
as they had toiled with their utmost strength to get the
boat along, now to refuse the promised reward, and make
them prisoners to boot." The English captain heard
their murmurs, and stepping forward, observed, "Gen.
Arnold, I command this ship, and while I walk the quar-
ter deck no such transaction shall take place. I know
the meaning of my words, sir, and will meet their com-
ment.'' Then addressing the men, he continued, " my
good fellows, I respect your principles, and fidelity to
your country, although you are enemies to your king.
You shall have liberty to go, or stay, as you please.
Here," taking them from his purse, " are your guineas ;
steward, put up four gallons of rum for these men." The
boatmen thanked the gallant sailor, and returned in safety
to head quarters, to report their proceedings to Wash-
ington, who had just arrived in camp. Arnold, enraged, t
retired without uttering a word, to the cabin.
Such is the amount of the statement made by Mr.
Chase, about a fortnight before his decease, and recorded
in the Monthly Visitor.
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276 REMINISCENCES OF THE
FACTS TO MAKE MEN THINK.
Written July, 1838.
Before the Charleston and Hamburg railroad was
made, the travel between those places was by stages,
three times a week, and averaging about four passengers
each trip. Now, by railroad, an average of fifty per
day, making a difference of more than twenty-three hun-
dred per cent ! ! !
The travel between Baltimore and Washington has
increased, since the railroad, from less than fifty, to two
hundred and fifty per day, or upwards of four hundred
per cent ! The estimate is, when this road is completed
to the Ohio, it will average at least one hundred and fifty
passengers per day, each way ; this will be found to be
a very low estimate. On the main stem of the Baltimore
and Ohio road, so far as made, the travel this year is
double what it was the last, and the freight has increased
fifty per cent, in the same period.
On the Pennsylvania railroad and canal, the amount
ff tonnage that passed over the mountains, westward,
between April 23, 1835, and May 11, 1836, a period of
twelve months and nineteen days, was over twenty-four
millions of pounds ! During the same period, the trans-
portation east was ten millions of pounds ; making an
aggregate of seventeen thousand tons. In addition to
this, more than one hundred and fifty thousand passen-
gers crossed the mountains, exceeding three hundred per
day, and three times the number that passed the prece-
ding year !
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. 277
On the Liverpool and Manchester railroad, the travel
has increased, from what it was before the road was
made, from an average of less than one hundred per day,
to the astonishing number of five hundred thousand in
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278 REMINISCBNCES OF THE
FIRST CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
The following account of the first celebration of our
country's independence, is copied from * Thomas' Mas-
sachusetts Spy? and cannot fail to be read with interest
by every patriot at the present period. The way they
did things, in the olden time, was the right way. When
this celebration took place, the battle was yet to be
fought and won; yet, with halters round their necks,
likf St. Pierre and his immortal followers, they did it
manfully and unflinchingly. I wonder how many of that
breed can be found at Washington, when congress is in
session, about these times ?
Thursday last, pursuant to the order of the honorable
council, was proclaimed from the balcony of the State
House in this town, the declaration of the American
congress, absolving the United Colonies from their alle-
giance to the British crown, and declaring them freb
and independent statbs. There were present on the
occasion, in the council chamber, the committee of coun-
cil, a number of the honorable house of representatives,
the magistrates, ministers, selectmen, and other gentlemen
of Boston and the neighboring towns ; also the commis-
sioned officers of the Continental regiments stationed here,
and other officers. Two of those regiments were under
arms in King street, formed into three lines on the north
side of the street, and in thirteen divisions ; and a detach-
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TSARS. 379
ment from the Massachusetts regiment of artillery, with
two pieces of cannon, was on their right wing.
At one o'clock, the declaration was proclaimed by
Col. Thomas Crafts, which was received with great joy,
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280 REMINISCENCES OF THE
AWFUL STEAMBOAT DISASTER.
Yesterday afternoon, between five and six o'clock the
most shocking occurrence I was ever called upon to
record, took place in this city. The new and elegant
steam boat Moselle, Captain Perin, left the wharf, bound
to St Louis, She had on board then upwards of two
hundred passengers. This is the opinion of those who
were present, and had the best opportunity of knowing,
from their constant attention on the wharf, and habitual
intercourse with the boats coming to it. She passed
rapidly up the river, to near the corporation line, where
lay several rafts loaded with emigrants, whom she took
onboard.
The rafts, and the neighboring shore and street, were
covered with people ; many of whom were drawn there
by curiosity, others to take farewell of their departing
friends. The montent they were all on board, with their
effects, and while the kiss of affection was yet warm upon
their lips, and the closely pressed hand had not yet
recovered from the pressure it received at parting, the
boat blew up, and in a moment, not less than two hundred
souls were ushered into eternity, while others, horribly
scalded and mangled, survived to die a lingering death.
At five o'clock this morning, I went to view the scene
of destruction and horror. I saw the mangled remains
of from fifteen to twenty, and spent an hour in learning
from the neighbors such particulars as they witnessed
themselves. A young woman who saw the explosion,
in common with many others, remarked that " it rained
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LAST -SIXTY-FIVE TEAKS. 281
human bodies, and fragments of bodies*" Some were
blown to the distance of two and three hundred feet,
wHile others fell near the spot from whence they ascend-
ed; one fell upon the rdof of a house, which he passed
through until stopped by his shoulders ; he was not quite
dead when he was removed, but died in a few minutes.
Captain Perin, and nearly all the officers of the boat, are
among the victims.
I never saw before such an illustration of the power of
steam ; a part of one of the boilers was thrown a distance
of one hundred yards, and crushed the pavement where
it fell ; another large piece of a boiler was thrown against
a building on the hill side, back of a tan-yard, and not
less than two hundred yards from the boat — it totally
demolished the gable end of the building ; another heavy
piece fell about fifty feet from the building, near a vat,
where five men were at work a few minutes before.
Numerous instances are mentioned of the distance to
which things were thrown, which would surpass belief,
but for the known veracity of those who saw them.
When the explosion took place, many who were on
the hurricane deck ran aft and jumped into the river, and
were drowned. An old lady, who was in the ladies'
cabin, with whom I have conversed, says she was thrown v
down, and the partition between the two cabins fell upon
her, which saved her ; her son perished, and she lost all
her effects. She remarked, she could not realize it ; and
it was evident, from her conversation, that she did not
Having progressed thus far, I went out to see if I could
not learn some further particulars. All I have been able
94*
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282 ' * EEMINI8CENCES OJT THE
to add, is that * dead body has been found in Kentucky, ■
having been blown the entire breadth of the river. It
was remarked to me, by numbers of those who sa^# it,
that great as were the fragments of human bodies, as
well as of the boat and her cargo, that fell on the shore,
they were trifling, when compared with those that fell in
the river.
The whole number on board, as returned by the survi-
ving clerk, was two hundred and eighty ; but there were
others taken on board here, of whom there was no
account.
Cincinnati, April 26, 1838.
The following description of the Battle of Princeton,
by one who was in it, a Sergeant of the New Jersey
Blues, has recently made its appearance in the « Newark
Daily Advertiser." It is a most interesting reminiscence.
In it may again be seen the wisdom of Washington,
directed by the hand of Providence. The worn out vet-
erans at first refused the solicitations of their beloved
commander, but when he returned and entreated them,
pointing out to them their country's distressed situation,
the brave patriots could no longer stand it, but gave up
their anticipated homes, and fireside enjoyments, for their
country's safety. They fought, and conquered. It was
this victory, and that of Trenton, which immediately pre-
ceded it, which raised the drooping spirits of the people,
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LAST MXTt-PIVB YBAKJI.* * 283 *
then sinking in dismay, and gave an impetus to the next
campaign. Let it never be forgotten, that it was pur-
chased with the blood of those brave volunteers. Here
follows the*heart-thrilling*account : —
BATTLE OF PRINCETON.
BY A SERGEANT.
Three, or four days after the victory at Trenton, the
American army re-crossed the Delaware into New
Jersey.
At this time, our troops were m a destitute and deplo-
rable condition. The horses attached to our cannon,
were without shoes ; and when passing over the ice, they
would slide in every direction, and could advance only
by the assistance of the soldiers. Our men, too, were
without shoes, or other comfortable clothing; and as
traces of our march towards Princeton, the ground was
literally marked with the blood of the soldiers' feet. —
Though my own feet did not bleed, they were so sore
that their condition was little better.
While we were at Trenton, on the last of December
1776, the time for which I, and the most of my regiment
had enlisted, expired. At this trying moment, General
Washington, having but a handful of men, and many of *
them new recruits, in which he could place but little con-
fidence, ordelred our regiment to be paraded, and person-
ally addressed us, urging lhat we should stay a month
longer. He alluded to our recent victory at Trenton —
told us that our services were greatly needed, and
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V. 284 '*"« EBMI^IiCENCES OF TH1
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thai we cetald dd more for our country than we ever
could at any futufe period — and in the most affection-
ate manner entreated us to stay. The drums were beat
for volunteers, b&t not a man turned out The sol-
diers, wont down with fatigue and privations, had their
hearts fixed on home, and the comforts of the domestic
**cirde, and it.was hard to forego the anticipated pleasure
of the society of our dearest friends.
The General wheeled his horse about, rode through in
front of the regiment, and addressing us again, said, " My
brave fellows, you have done all I ever asked you to do,
and ujore than could be reasonably expected ; but your
country is at stake, your wives, your houses, and all you
hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues
and Jiardships, but we know not how to spare you. If
you will consent to slay only one month longer, you will
render that service to the cause of Liberty, and to your
country, which you probably never can do under any
circumstances. The present, is emphatically the crisis,
which is to decide our destiny." The drums beat the
second time. The soldiers felt the force of the appeal.
One said to another, I will remain if you will. Others
remarked, we cannot go home under such circumstances.
A few stepped forth, and their example was immediately
followed by nearly all who were fit for duty in the regi-
ment, amounting in all to about two hundred volunteers.*
An officer enquired of the General if these men should
* About half of these volunteers were killed in the battle of Princeton,
or died of the small pox soon after.
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tiAST SIXTY-FIVfc *E4RS., >* r *285;
be enrolled He replied, "No! Rj^n wh# will volun-
teer in such a case as this, need no ^ enrollment to keep
them to their duty."
When we were about commencing our march for
Princeton, Lord Cornwallis left that place with the inten-
tion of attacking, add at one Wow cutting off the rebel
army. He appeared near Trenton, at Wood creejt, or
the Assumpsit river, where a skirmish 4 took place at a
bridge over the creek. The Hessians were placed in
front of the British army, and endeavored to force the
bridge. They were repulsed and driven back, three
times, by the American cannon. The Hessians were
pushed on by the British commanders, and were cut
down, until the dead lay in heaps by the bridge. . They
retired, and we were left undisturbed for the night.
Leaving our fires kindled, to deceive the enemy, we
decamped that night, and by a circuitous route, took up *
our March for Princeton. General Mercer commanded
the front guard, of which the two hundred volunteers
composed a part. About sunrise, on the morning of the
3d of January, 1777, reaching the summit of a hill, near
Princeton, we observed a light horseman looking towards
us, as we view an object when the rising sun shines di-
rectly in our face. General Mercer, observing him, gave
orders to the riflemen to pick him off. Several made
ready, but at that instant he wheeled about out of our
reach.
Soon after, as we were descending a hill through an
orchard, a part of the enemy, who were entrenched
behind a bank and furze, rose and fired upon us. Their
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286 HEM IJIIiCEHCES OF TBI
first shot passed over our heads, cutting the limbs of the
trees under which we were marching. At this moment
we were ordered to wheel. As the platoon which I
commanded were obeying the order, the corporal who
* stood at my left shoulder, received a ball and fell dead on
the spot He seemed to bend forward to receive the
ball, which might have otherwise ended my life. We
formed, advanced, and fired upon the enemy. They
retreated about eight rods to their packs, which were
laid in a line. I advanced to the fence on the opposite
side of the ditch, which the enemy had just left, fell on
one knee, and loaded my musket with ball and buck shot
Our fire was most destructive ; their ranks grew thin,
and the victory seemed nearly complete, when the British
were reinforced. Many of our brave men had fallen,
and we were, unable to withstand much superior num-
bers of fresh troops.
I soon heard General Mercer command, in a tone of
distress, "Retreat* He was mortally wounded, and
died shortly afterwards. I looked about for the main
body of the army, which I could not discover. I dis-
charged my musket at a part of the enemy, and ran for
a piece of woods, at a little distance, where I thought I
might find shelter. At this moment Washington ap-
peared in front of the American army, riding towards
those of us who were retreating, and exclaimed, " Parade
with us, my brave fellows ; there is but a handful of the
enemy, and we will have them directly ." I immediately
joined the main body, and marched over the ground
again.
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE TEARS. . 287
O, the barbarity of man ! On our retreat we had left
a comrade of ours, whose name was Loomis, from Leb-
anon, Ct, whose leg was broken by a musket ball, under
a cart in a yard ; but on our return he was dead, having
received seven wounds from a British bayonet ! My *
old associates were scattered about, groaning, dying and
dead. One officer who was shot from his horse lay in a
hollow place in the ground, rolling and writhing in his
own blood, unconscious of any thing around him. The
ground was frozen, and all the blood that was shed, re-
mained on the surface, which added to the horror of this
scene of carnage.
The Britfsh were unable to resist this attack, and re-
treated into the College, where they considered them-
selves safe. Our army was there in an instant, and can-
nons were before the door, and after two or three dis-
charges, a white flag appeared at a window, when the
British surrendered. They, were a haughty, crabbed
set of men, as they fully exhibited while prisoners on
their march to the country. In this battle, my pack,
which was made fast by leather strings was, as I sup-
pose, shot from my back, and with it went all the little
clothing I had ; it was soon, however, replaced by one
which had belonged to a British officer, and was well
famished.
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288 . ' REMINISCENCES OF THE
SOCIETIES.
Written, August, 1837.
There are more societies for various purposes, in the
United States, thaq in all Europe put together. Yet
there is one wanting, wKich, before the existence of the
present innumerable host of incorporated ones, had an
existence, by common consent, without being incorpo-
rated, and was as extensive as the Union ; its utility was
admitted by all ; its good effects were felt through all the
ramifications of the body politic, and none could be
found who had ought to say against it. It was indeed a
most excellent, a most useful institution, co-existent and
co-extensive with the institutions of our country, and in-
terwoven with its government ; yet has it been compel-
led to give place to the thousands that now overrun the
land like locusts, and eat out our subsistence, devouring
the bread that should be given to the hungry, and the
clothing that should cover the naked ; leaving the one to
perish with hunger, the other with cold. This der
sideratum — this Society of all others most to be de-
sired, is an — Every-one-mind-his-own-business-Society.
What incalculable good would be derived from the
establishment of such an order of things? I remember
well its former existence, and its good effects; then
order, morals, and pure and undefiled religion bore sway ;
then, as in the golden days of good Queen Bess,
" The people every Sunday went twice, at least, to church,
And they seldom left the parson or the sermon in the lurch ;"
* 1
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* LAST SIXTY-FIVB Y?AR8. ' 289
•while the other six days of the week were devoted to
honest labor and innocent and necessary recreation;
then this never-ending list of Societies had no existence ;
then the soul and the body were both administered to by
those whose business it was to attend to it ; in the former
case it devolved upon the worthy and pious minister of
r the Gospel, and was done without ostentation or parade
had an j n ^ p Ur ;^y f hj s master's principles ; -in the latter
case it was the duty, because it wag the business, of all
to see that their neighbors did not want that which was
necessary for their meat, drink, or clothing. If a man's
house was burnt and he was not able to build another,
his neighbors did it for him ; if he was sick at the plant-
ing season, his neighbors assembled and planted his corn
for him, and attended it through the season even unto
harvest home.
In New England, the land of my fathers, and home of
my birth, I have witnessed numerous instances of benevo-
lence of this kind, and to this extent; they never stopped
to enquire to what sect a man belonged — it was enough
to know that he was a man, and in want of the aid of his
fellows. True, our population has doubled, nearly tre-
bled, since the time I allude to, while crime has increased
more than a thousand fold ; then the murder of an indi-
vidual rung through the land, and echoed and re-echoed
from hill to vale ; now the accounts of murders for the
last three weeks have averaged more than two a day, ex-
clusive of the Vicksburgh tragedy and the executions in
other parts of Mississippi, and few of them receive even
a passing notice, while many are committed with impu-
vol. i as
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290 REMINISCENCES OF THE
nity ; then men went to the fountain for their religion ;
now they get it from the impure rivulets which meander
through the columns of a sectarian newspaper ; then men
attended the temples dedicated to the Most High, to hear
the Gospel preached in the same purity as in the days
of the Apostles ; now to hear sermons reviling all other
sects than that to which the preacher himself belongs ;
then if a man, wanted a Bible he purchased it at the first
bookstore he came to ; now he must purchase it of a
brother, that is, one of the same sect with himself; then
his charities were co-extensive with the needy ; now they
are too often limited to his own sect.
And now, I will ask, what have we gained by these
changes which have cost so many millions, while tens of
thousands of deserving poor have wanted both food and
raiment ? The subject is endless.
COMMERCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
Written May, 1835.
How few, how very few, even of those who assist in
carrying it on, have any idea of the extent of this vast
trade, which can only be known in part to the closest
observer and most indefatigable inquirer ; and this must
ever be the case, until legal requirements shall compel
the owners of flat and keel boats to report manifests of
their cargoes.
During a trip of seven weeks to New Orleans last
fall, six of which were spent upon the river, I made some
jt
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LAST mTY-PIVB YEARS. 291
remarks upon the commerce which was continually pass-
ing in my view. During eight days in the month of
November, that the boat, on which I was, lay upon the
roqks, near Shawnee town, the average number of flat
boats that passed us in day-light, each day, was twenty-
five — their average burthen from five to six hundred
barrels. Their cargoes were various, although the greater
part, at that season, were loaded with flour, whiskey, and
corn : still there were many with cattle, sheep, horses,
mules, lumber, &c. &c. &c. ; the pork, bacon and lard
trade had not then commenced.
On coming up the river, two or three weeks after, it
occurred to me, on leaving Memphis, at eight o'clock
A. M., that I would count the flat boats I saw descend-
ing during the day — at five o'clock P. M., a period of
nine hours, I had noticed sixty. No account was kept
during the night, but the pilot counted upwards of twenty
lying in-shore at one place, and twelve were counted at
another. The next day, from sunrise to sunset, I noticed
seventy-seven, after which I took no particular account
of them.
The passage from New Orleans to Louisville was
twelve days, which is about an average one. Here,
then, estimating the boats at seventy-five per day only,
(including those passed in the night,) which is certainly
within the number, you have nine hundred vessels, which,
at only five hundred barrels each, give a grand aggregate
Of FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND BARRELS, all On
their way to market at once.
But this is only a part of this immense commerce.
4
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292 REMINISCENCES OF THE
There passed on their way to -New Orleai|s, during the
same period, nearly every first apd second rate steam-
boat (as to size) upon the western waters — those belong-
ing to the Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumber-
land, laden with cotton, to an extent, in many instances,
of from two to three thousand bales each ; while those
out of the Ohio were laden with the various products of
the rich vales of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois,
forming an immense aggregate of wealth, the whole of
which passed from its place of shipment to its destined
mart in the short period of forty days, and much more
than half of it in less than half that time ! Yet this trade
is carried on for six months in the year, and during nearly
the whole year at a more limited extent.
If from the past and the present we are to judge of
the future, what may we not anticipate in another twenty
years only, for the amount of the products and commerce
of this great valley 1 Then, indeed, may our poets sing>
" A clime whose rich vales feed the marts of the world."
But if we extend our views forward to fifty years
hence, the subject seems too great for the grasp of mind,
and only to be encompassed by imagination — yet there
are many thousands now in existence, who will live to
witness it
I have given the facts in this article, to endeavor to
draw the attention of those to the subject, who have such
frequent, and better opportunities of doing it greater
justice than any that I was presented with. Passengers,
and men of intelligence acting as officers on board steam-
boats, would be rendering a valuable service to the public,
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LAST SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 293
*
by furnishing such statistical facts on this important sub-
ject, as their leisure and opportunities so frequently afford
them the mean? of acquiring.
BREAD STUFFS.
Vritten March, UBf.
Much has been written, and much more said, about the
want of bread stuffs in the United States. There is no
such want, nor has there been, as I will show to the sat-
isfaction of every one in the least acquainted with die
subject True, there has been a large quantity of grain
imported into the United States, not because there was
not enough raised at home for consumption, but because
of its very low price in Europe ; wheat is bought at
Odessa, for fifty cents, and at Dantzick for fifty-five cents
per bushel, thus affording a great profit to the importer.
There has been, since the last year's harvest, about
half a million of bushels imported, and before the next
harvest it will probably amount to a million — say a
million — that would make two hundred thousand barrels
of flour, at the usual allowance of five bushels to the bar-
rel, and that quantity will furnish bread to seven millions
and a half of people, for five days and four hours t I am
thus particular, to place in the most prominent point of
view, the absurd idea that our last year's crop was not
equal to the consumption of die country ; yet the whole
amount of importations to this time, is only equal to two
85*
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* *
29* * iltftflHJSOiNCJS OF Ttl*
izyY W%d*Q hatyc+vsvrnpHon ; and the price of fldur "has
fifllen, *a*j Si felling, ip New York, Philadelphia, Balti-
fltaSflft, Ale^tWijdria, N$w Orleans, and Cincinnati, besides
numeroflp dther place* of lea* note.
The yfrpulaffkta of the United States is about rfbcteen
millions — say fifteen ; one half of those use nq wheat
bread, hut make use of rye and com. There, are, then,
seven millions and a half or our. people, wh* eat bread
made from* wheat ; a barrel of flour is barely sufficient
for ten persons, of all ages, for one month ; this every
house keeper knows, or ought to know.
The annual consumption of the United States, on the
rule laid down, of a barrel of flour per month for every
ten persons, which long experience teaches us is true,
amounts to nine millions nine hundred and ninety thou-
sand barrels per annum, for half our population, or seven
millions and a half of people. I have thus, I think, shown
that a bountiful Providence sends us plenty, but the spec-
ulator deprives us of the enjoyment of it.
While on this subject, I cannot forbear to mention the
fact, that in New York, the other day, a mother and three
children had nearly died of starvation ; one child died,
and the others were with difficulty and great care recov-
ered. In Philadelphia, last week, a mother and child
starved to death ! Add to this, there are tens of thou-
sands who do not get half enough to eat, in this land of
plenty and of christians, as we call ourselves, although,
we are free to confess, that letting our fellow creatures
perish for want of food, is rather an odd way of display-
ing the practical part of the character. But, never mind,
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we will #ff make fortunes by speculation tod theq we
■will give something to the pooiv if they&aye not all-star-
ved to death in the mean tin#. ,• *,-**"
EXPLORING EXPEDITION. ,
Written Aagust, 1887.
The public, will rejoice to learn that this great national
enterprise has arrived safe at New York, after enduring
great sufferings, and unparalleled hardships for two years,
in exploring the numerous Creeks, Inlets, and Duck-
ponds, between the entrance to Chesapeake Bay and Old
Point Comfort. '
I rejoice to learn that my old friend, Commodore
Jones, his officers and crew, are all in good health, con-
sidering the extreme severity of the serviqp they have
been engaged in* It is expected that the squadron will
winter in New York, and great hopes are entertained
that they will be so far recovered from their fatigues by
next spring, as to enable them to return to their .old
cruising grounds in the Chesapeake Bay. I may, on
another occasion, give some account of the valuable and
interesting discoveries made during their explorations,
but at present, I am so overcome with joy on their safe
arrival, that I am by no means prepared to do justice to
the value and importance of their discoveries ; yet I cannot
forbear to mention some of the most important ; and first,
it has been discovered that Canvass back Ducks and
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206 REMIHISCBH CES OF THE'
York River Oysters, afford better aliment on such trying
occasions, than Soli Junk and Hard Bread; and what adds
greatly to the importance of this discovery, it is understood
that the medical faculty attached to the expedition, who
are seldom behind-hand on thefee occasions, have discov-
ered that straw-colored Madeira and Champagne assist
greatly in promoting the digestion of the Ducks and Oys-
ters aforesaid.
Happy people ! where adventurous daring, and the
most useful science, are thus brought to administer to
your national glory ; let a monument of brick-bats be
raised to your administration, and your Secretary of the
Navy be rewarded with a leather medal !
THINGS BY THEIR RIGHT NAMES,
OR THE TWENTT-FIFTB CONGRESS.
Written March, 1888.
Whose political existence expired on the 3d inst v has
been a disgrace to the country, and were it not for a
few, a very few, individuals, it would be beneath con-
tempt One of its most distinguished members declared
in this city, last week, that he had seen and kept -much
bad company in his life, but that it was all good, com-
pared with what he met with among members of Con-
gress, at Washington, and that nothing could induce him
to return there. Men, who, at home, particularly while
engaged in soliciting the dear peoples' votes, support de-
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LA8T SIXTY-FIVE YEARS. 297
cent characters ; but no sooner do they find themselves
in Congress, than the mask is thrown off; and he whose
morals would not permit him to visits theatre, or attend
a ball, or go to a horse-race, or enter a coffee-house, to
take a glass of something to drink, at home, may there be
successfully looked for at a brothel, a gaming house, or a
"groggery ;" and this has been, and will continue to be
the case, while candidates are taken up, and supported,
with a single reference to their^wirfy politics, as has been,
and still is, the case. Look to your candidates ; look to
their habits — if they are those of industry and business
men, then look to the motive which actuates them to wish
to leave those habits, and that business, to seek a seat in
Congress, — u you will find a lurking devil there." The
motive is seen only by a few, and those few must be men
of close observation ; but it is those motives which govern
the successful candidate entirely, on taking his seat in
Congress. The motive of some, and not a few, is office-
seeking — hence so many, on gaining a seat, devote them-
selves to the administration, right or wrong, as the foun-
tain from whence office flows. The motive, in others,
is to show off a handsome wife, or daughter — an exhibi-
tion which does not always end felicitously. The gov-
erning motive in others, and a large number too, is to get
where they can indulge their depraved appetites for the
most prominent vices, without being in danger of being
called to account by the moral sense of the community in
'which they are, or loosing their places in the front rank
of society. The citizens of Washington are not to be
blamed for this ; they all live directly, or indirectly, out
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298 REMINISCENCES OF THE
of the public crib, and it cannot be expected of them that
they will be otherwise than blind to the errors of those
who have charge of the provender. What press, in
Washington, has ever held up, for scorn to point her fin-
ger at, the vile misdeeds of members of Congress, further
than as relates to party politics ? None : it is not to be
expected of them. There are those who accept, (not
seek,) a seat in Congress, to render service to their coun-
try. True, that, " like angel's visits, they are few, and
far between ;* still there are such — and when I name
Elisha Whittlesey, Asher Robbins, Hugh L. White, and
such as they, the truth of the assertion will not be called
in question. They, and the few that are like them, are
the salt, without which, Congress would become one pu-
tp^L mass of moral and pestilential corruption; and it is
a lamentable circumstance, that all three of those I have
named, have closed their legislative duties with the ses-
sion that has just ended ; so that we have only to hope,
that among the new members that will have places in the
next Congress, some may be found, not only able, but
willing, to fill their places — there are plenty that are
able, but few that are wilKng. It requires industry, and
business habits.
It should be borne in mind, by the people of the United
States, that at an extra session of the late Congress, when
temperance and temperance societies were making a
great noise, that august body passed a " Resolution" that
no more spirituous liquors should be vended in the " grog-
geries" in the basement story of the Capitol. This rung
through the land. " O, what a wise Congress — what an
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LAST SIXTY-FI VE*YE ARS. 299
impetus thi* will give to the cause of temperance," and
much more of it Now, be it known to the constituents
of those worthies, that said resolution was nothing but a
gull trap ; that spirits continued to be drank there as be-
fore, simply, for a while, calling it " Sherry! 9 This 1
can prove by members of Congress themselves. It must
have struck the attention of every man who reads the
proceedings of Congress, that when a question is taken,
without a call of the house, there are seldom three-fourths
of the members present, (there are two hundred and
forty-two members,) often not two-thirds, and sometimes
not one half! ! The question is, where are they ? The
answer is ready; in the " groggeries" in the basement -
story, or at worse places, farther off. When a call of the
House takes place, the Sergeant-at-arms, or the doog*
keeper, give them the hint, and they appear and answer
to their names. This'done, they return, " like the dog to
his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing
in the mire."
DAY OP THANKSGIVING*.
, * Written Norember, 1838.
Governor Vance has issued his proclamation, appoint-
ing " Thursday, the fourteenth day of December next, to
be observed by the people of this State, as a day of Thanks-
giving and Prayer." It is very ill-timed. On a day set
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300 4 EEMnflSjCHWCES, & C.
apart fdj^sqfcji fe purpose, if regarded as it ought to be,
3achusetts ? where it had its origin, die
tiould, as far as possible, be at home
id, it is the day when the scattered
ly unite and congregate. The son at
ne, learning a trade or business, is, by
oyer, permitted to visit his parents, at
those married and settled, even in dis-
, , r the appointment of thanksgiving, as
, a day when they will revisit the paternal mansion, and
become, if fcnly.jfor a day, re-united in (he bonds of afiec-
. Son, social enjoyment and peace.
It is a sight worthy of the practical christian, to see, on
such an occasion, the venerable patriarch of a numerous
family, surrounded by his offspring, and those connected
with him by blood, of marriage, gathered from distant
places, to unite with him in thanksgiving to the Author of
all good, and participate in the bounties of his providence.
It is a day of all others in New England, in the celebra-
tion of which, pure religion, innocent amusements, and all
the social affections, are united. *It is, in reality, a day of
joy, gladness, and good will to man, and of thanksgiving
to God. It kgtijpfe bright the chain of affection, between
separated and di^tfht branches of the same family, than
which notjiing tends wore to ameliorate the heart and
promote the happiness of our race.
END OF VOL. I.
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